The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Administrative Appeal Committee has canceled a NT$1.85 billion (US$62 million) fine imposed on cooking-oil producer Chang Chi Foodstuff Factory Co (大統) last year by the Changhua County Public Health Bureau in an adulterated oil scandal, citing the principle of double jeopardy.
Administrative Appeal Committee executive-secretary Kao Tsung-hsien (高宗賢) said the committee had held three special meetings between April and last month to deliberate the case after Chang Chi filed a petition at the end of last year asking that the fine be annulled.
“Given that the Changhua District Court has handed down a punishment against the company’s chairman, Kao Cheng-li (高振利), [in December last year], the committee members decided to cancel the NT$1.85 billion fine in accordance with Article 26 of the Administrative Penalty Act (行政罰法),” Kao Tsung-hsien said.
Kao Tsung-hsien added that the bureau would only be allowed to reimpose the fine should Kao Cheng-li be acquitted by the court.
The article stipulates that if one single act constitutes simultaneously a criminal offense or offenses, as well as a breach of duty under administrative law, it shall be punishable under criminal law.
The district court sentenced Kao Cheng-li to 16 years in prison and fined him NT$50 million on charges of fraud and violations of the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) for blending edible oil products for the previous seven years with copper chlorophyllin and cottonseed oil, which are cheaper than other edible oils and toxic if they are left unrefined.
Two senior staff members, Wen Jui-pin (溫瑞彬) and Chou Kun-ming (周昆明), were given terms of two years and 10 months respectively.
Commenting on the committee’s decision, Consumers’ Foundation chairman Mark Chang (張智剛) said the annulment of the fine would send a message to other companies that “it is okay to engage in illegal activities.”
“Unless the government is willing to increase the criminal penalties for corporations using illegal means to gain profits, there will be no one left to safeguard public health and food safety,” Chang said.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS