The Taipei District Court yesterday detained former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Policy Committee director Alex Tsai (蔡正元) over allegations that he embezzled NT$370 million (US$12.17 million) from Central Motion Pictures Corp (CMPC, 中央電影公司).
A judge ordered him held incommunicado, saying that there was a possibility he might flee, tamper with evidence or attempt to communicate with other principles in the case.
He was put in handcuffs and taken to the Taipei Detention Center in the morning.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
After questioning Tsai, his wife Queena Hung (洪菱霙) and seven other people, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it has sufficient evidence to charge Tsai with embezzlement, breach of trust and other offenses, stemming from a series of financial transactions in the late 2000s connected with CMPC.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators yesterday urged prosecutors to reopen a shelved investigation into former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) role in the sale of CMPC and other KMT-related assets while he was party chairman.
Taipei district prosecutors said that in 2006 Tsai talked investor Chuang Wan-chun (莊婉均) into purchasing 80 percent of CMPC shares for NT$3.1 billion, asking Cheng Uei Precision Industry (正崴精密工業) chairman Gou Tai-chiang (郭台強) and his wife, Lor Yu-chen, (羅玉珍) to act as guarantors of the deal.
Gou is a younger brother of Terry Gou (郭台銘), chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密).
The three parties reached an agreement that ownership of the shares would be registered to Apollo Investment Co (阿波羅公司), a company founded by Tsai, prosecutors said, adding that Tsai, Chuang and Lor ran Apollo together.
Later in 2006, Tsai convened a meeting of shareholders to discuss a capital reduction proposal, and they resolved to reduce CMPC’s capital by NT$580 million, which was then entrusted to Apollo.
However, Tsai signed a contract with himself on behalf of Apollo, entrusting NT$430 million of the capital reduction funds to his name, prosecutors said.
Apollo then transferred the funds to the private accounts of Queena Hung, who was the head of Tsai’s legislative office at the time, and Tsai himself, prosecutors said.
Tsai also used the funds to invest on his own account, including in the property market, and the overall movement of funds eventually resulted in NT$240 million in losses for Apollo, prosecutors said.
In July 2010, when Apollo’s contract entrusting funds to Tsai expired, Tsai transferred NT$130 million to accounts held by Apollo, which included the account of a company registered under Hung’s name, prosecutors said.
Tsai sent somebody to withdraw the funds and deposit them in one of Tsai’s accounts, and the former lawmaker used the money to buy property, stocks and foreign currency and pay his credit card bills, prosecutors said.
During the detention hearing, Tsai denied all of the allegations and described them as political persecution.
Tsai’s lawyer said he would file an appeal against his detention.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS