Three executives from local builders China Metal Products Co (勤美建設) and Prince Housing & Development Corp (太子建設) paid a total of NT$82 million (US$2.5 million) in bail after indictments on charges including breach of trust.
China Metal chairman Ho Ming-hsien (何明憲) was released on bail of NT$70 million on Friday, a day after prosecutors indicted him on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust, company spokeswoman Ho Pei-fen (何佩芬) said in a briefing in Taipei yesterday.
Prince chairman Chuang Nan-tien (莊南田) and President Chen Ren-chin (陳仁欽) paid bail of NT$10 million and NT$2 million respectively and were charged with breach of trust and forgery, company lawyer Chen Yung-chang said in Taipei.
Executives at China Metal and Prince Housing are suspected of buying the non-performing loans of Splendor Hotel (金典酒店) in Taichung and selling them to companies at inflated prices, Lee Chung-wen, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutors’ Office, said by telephone yesterday.
Prosecutors earlier probed executives at Chong Hong Construction Co (長虹建設) for reselling land to the developer at inflated prices.
“The charges are pretty serious,” said Wey Jang-jyh (魏彰志), an analyst at Fubon Securities Co (富邦證券). “I would suggest investors to stay clear from stocks with legal problems.”
Wey has a “neutral” rating on Taiwan’s real estate and construction sector.
Prince Housing fell 2 percent to NT$15 as of 10:27am in Taipei trading. China Metal gained 2.6 percent to NT$33.20. The benchmark Taiex lost 0.5 percent.
Prosecutors are seeking a 24-year jail term for China Metal Chairman Ho, company spokeswoman Ho said.
The executives at the two firms couldn’t be reached for comment.
The companies were raided on June 3, and 21 employees were summoned for questioning, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said at the time.
China Metal was not involved in any wrongdoings, the company said then.
“The company is deeply sorry to hear about the charges,” Wu Chian-ying (吳建瑩), a spokesman for Tainan-based Prince Housing, said in a press briefing in Taipei today. “The case won’t impact the company’s operation.”
Chong Hong spokesman Chen Mao-qing (陳茂慶) said last week that chairman Lee Wen-tsao (李文造) and his wife weren’t available for comment.
AI REVOLUTION: The event is to take place from Wednesday to Friday at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center’s halls 1 and 2 and would feature more than 1,100 exhibitors Semicon Taiwan, an annual international semiconductor exhibition, would bring leaders from the world’s top technology firms to Taipei this year, the event organizer said. The CEO Summit is to feature nine global leaders from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), Applied Materials Inc, Google, Samsung Electronics Co, SK Hynix Inc, Microsoft Corp, Interuniversity Microelectronic Centre and Marvell Technology Group Ltd, SEMI said in a news release last week. The top executives would delve into how semiconductors are positioned as the driving force behind global technological innovation amid the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the organizer said. Among them,
When she was in fifth grade, Scarlett Goddard Strahan started to worry about getting wrinkles. By the time she turned 10, she and her friends were spending hours on ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and Google’s YouTube watching influencers tout products for achieving today’s beauty aesthetic: a dewy, “glowy,” flawless complexion. Goddard Strahan developed an elaborate skin care routine with facial cleansers, mists, hydrating masks and moisturizers. One night, her skin began to burn intensely and erupted in blisters. Heavy use of adult-strength products had wreaked havoc on her skin. Months later, patches of tiny bumps remain on her face, and her cheeks turn
Former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) yesterday warned against the tendency to label stakeholders as either “pro-China” or “pro-US,” calling such rigid thinking a “trap” that could impede policy discussions. Liu, an adviser to the Cabinet’s Economic Development Committee, made the comments in his keynote speech at the committee’s first advisers’ meeting. Speaking in front of Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) and other officials, Liu urged the public to be wary of falling into the “trap” of categorizing people involved in discussions into either the “pro-China” or “pro-US” camp. Liu,
Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said Taiwan’s government plans to set up a business service company in Kyushu, Japan, to help Taiwanese companies operating there. “The company will follow the one-stop service model similar to the science parks we have in Taiwan,” Kuo said. “As each prefecture is providing different conditions, we will establish a new company providing services and helping Taiwanese companies swiftly settle in Japan.” Kuo did not specify the exact location of the planned company but said it would not be in Kumamoto, the Kyushu prefecture in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC, 台積電) has a