Investigators have seized more useful data in their second search of troubled Rebar Asia Pacific Group's (力霸亞太企業集團) headquarters in connection with a probe into the group's suspected involvement in insider trading, prosecution officials said yesterday.
A team headed by Prosecutor Chang Shu-hua (張書華) searched 17 locations, including the Rebar Group headquarters and the homes of the group's board members on Friday, focusing on accounting and transaction records related to suspected insider trading of shares of two ailing Rebar affiliates -- China Rebar Co (中國力霸) and Chia Hsin Food and Synthetic Fiber Co (嘉新食品化纖).
Lin Jinn-tsun (
"The impounded items include computer discs, private notebooks, accounting books and transaction records that will be very helpful with the investigation into the Rebar Group's suspected illegal commercial dealings," Lin said.
The search followed Thursday's raids at more than 30 locations, including China Rebar chairwoman Wang Chin She-ying's (王金世英) office at the Guangfu branch of another of the group's subsidiaries -- The Chinese Bank (中華銀行).
Investigators seized accounting books and notebooks they said contain new evidence linked to insider trading of shares of more than four of the group's firms, Lin said.
"Friday's search has spurred investigators into believing that the group's founder, Wang You-theng (王又曾), had long been deliberating hollowing out the corporate assets," Lin said, adding that Wang had regularly met with the group's six top financial executives to discuss how to embezzle various Rebar affiliates' funds through crossholdings and insider trading.
Judicial probes were launched after China Rebar and Chia Hsin announced on Jan. 4 that they had filed for insolvency protection on Dec. 29, triggering a run on The Chinese Bank the following day.
The investigations initially focused on suspected irregularities at five Rebar subsidiaries -- the Great Chinese Bills Finance Corp's (
As of Friday, two Union Insurance executives -- vice chairman Wang Lin-i (王令一) and president Frank Wang (王事展) -- had been taken into custody pending further investigations, while Chin Shui-ho (金水和), Union Insurance chairman and father of Wang Chin Shyh-ying, had been released on NT$200,000 bail.
After examining the accounting records found during the search, prosecutors said they suspected Eastern Multimedia (
Wang You-theng fled to China on Dec. 30 and his wife, Wang Chin Shih-ying, followed on Jan. 1, only a few days before prosecutors prohibited scores of their family members and Rebar executives from leaving the country.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS