The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted two Taiwanese and issued a wanted notice for Pete Liu (劉作虎), founder of Shenzhen-based smartphone manufacturer OnePlus Technology Co (萬普拉斯科技), for allegedly contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) by poaching 70 engineers in Taiwan.
Liu allegedly traveled to Taiwan at the end of 2014 and met with a Taiwanese man surnamed Lin (林) to discuss establishing a mobile software research and development (R&D) team in Taiwan, prosecutors said.
Without approval from the government, Lin, following Liu’s instructions, recruited more than 70 software engineers in Taiwan to develop mobile phone software, and conduct verification and testing for OnePlus, they said.
Photo: Chen Tsai-ling, Taipei Times
Liu, Lin and a woman surnamed Cheng (鄭) in March 2014 established Hong Kong OnePlus Co (香港一加公司) in Hong Kong, prosecutors said.
They set up Hong Kong OnePlus’ Taiwan branch the following year, with Cheng in charge, they said.
In May 2019, the company was renamed Hong Kong Soundna Consulting Co (聲赫公司), they said.
From August 2015 to January 2021, OnePlus wired about US$72.93 million through several Hong Kong companies to the company’s Taiwan branch under the pretext of “revenue from commissioned R&D, and the sale of R&D outputs/assets,” prosecutors said.
The money was used to recruit employees in Taiwan, pay salaries and purchase equipment for operations, they said.
Cheng in her questioning said she was only the nominal head of the company’s Taiwan branch and was solely responsible for tax planning, having no knowledge of the company’s operations and receiving no salary, prosecutors said.
She said the Taiwan branch was in charge of R&D for OnePlus, they added.
Lin said that he was assigned by Liu to serve as R&D supervisor, conducting interviews and leading the team in Taiwan, adding that the branch did not establish its own client network, and all operational directions were decided by Liu.
Witnesses testified that the software developed by the branch was used exclusively for OnePlus and Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) smartphones.
Managers were required to regularly report employee attendance and financial status to the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, China, they said.
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