Former executive vice president of the China Development Holding Corp (CDHC) Shih Jer-shyong (施哲雄) yesterday admitted to committing crimes under the direction of CDHC former chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英).
Shih is one of nine defendants charged with aiding and abetting Liu who is himself charged or facing charges in 12 separate corporate corruption scandals.
At a court hearing yesterday, Shih confessed to the crimes with which he had been charged.
These include violating the Business Accounting Law (商業會計法), document forgery and breach of trust for helping Liu illegally buy stocks from the company's minority shareholders.
Many people in the courtroom appeared shocked by Shih's admission, especially Liu.
"I hereby affirm what was described in the indictment and confess the crimes," Shih said at the hearing.
"What I did was nothing but following Liu's orders. In addition, I am quite sure that China Development Industrial Bank chairman Benny Hu (胡定吾) must know everything since he was my supervisor and also worked closely with Liu, although he kept denying everything," Shih said.
Hu has been summoned by prosecutors during their investigations but so far they have not possessed enough evidence to charge him.
Hu said that he would not comment on Shih's allegations before he talked to his lawyers. Liu, however, continued to deny the charges against him at the hearing.
Among the 10 defendants, former Kuo-hung International Development Corp president Su Chih-jen (蘇志仁), the younger brother of Su Chih-cheng (蘇志誠), who used to be a close aide to the former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), was the only one absent for the hearing yesterday.
Yesterday's hearing was the first after prosecutors indicted the 10 defendants on June 6. Prosecutors are seeking a 16-year sentence for Liu on charges of theft, corruption, breach of trust, document forgery and violating the Securities Transaction Law (證券交易法), the Corporation Law (公司法), the Money Laundering Control Law (洗錢防制法) and Business Accounting Law.
Initially, Liu was investigated for his involvement in the Zanadau Development Corp scandal, in which he was accused of accepting a NT$1.06 billion kickback from Su Hui-chen (
However, in addition to the Zanadau case, prosecutors discovered that he was also involved in another 11 cases and indicted another nine defendants who allegedly helped him.
Former KMT Investment and Business Management Committee secretary-general Darby Liu (劉大貝) was charged with theft and breach of trust for helping Liu use KMT assets to invest in Taiwan Pineapple stocks.
Former China Green Fiber Corp general-manager Cheng Tsung-cheng (鄭淙王爭) was charged with document forgery in the Taiwan Pineapple case.
Su Chih-jen was charged along with former KMT lawmaker Lin Ming-yi (林明義) with breach of trust.
They allegedly helped Liu get construction licenses for a cemetery project in which he had invested KMT assets.
Chen Kun-yung (陳崑永), another former China Development Holding Corp executive vice president, and former Wei-cheng Group president Hsieh Wen-chin (
Former China Development Holding Corp business manager Chen Jui-hsun (陳瑞勳) was charged with breach of trust, document forgery, violations of the Corporation Law and Business Accounting Law for his role in the gas station project.
Former Chiaotoubao Corp president Yang Ching-lan (楊青嵐) was charged with breach of trust, document forgery and violation of the Corporation Law for helping Liu invest KMT assets in food processing factories which were never built.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS