A PJ Asset Management Co executive accused of bribing a Ministry of Labor official in charge of managing a labor fund was yesterday released after posting NT$300,000 (US$10,413) in bail, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
The executive, surnamed Chiu, allegedly bribed ministry official Yu Nai-wen (游迺文) to manipulate select stocks by making purchases from the labor fund’s pool of money, prosecutors said.
Because he gave Yu bribes, Chiu was charged with breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), they said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The charges came yesterday after the prosecutors’ office launched a second investigation into the case.
Five locations were raided, including Chiu’s office and residence, and he was arrested for questioning before being released on bail.
Prosecutors said that Chiu and Yu, head of the Bureau of Labor Funds’ domestic investment division, in July began to manipulate the price of a specific stock.
Chiu allegedly told Yu that he would pay him to take advantage of his position to buy more than 400,000 shares at above market prices, they said, adding that Yu places the orders with brokerage firms used by the bureau.
PJ Asset Management is a wholly owned subsidiary of local property developer the PJ Group.
In the first investigation, prosecutors found that Yu spent NT$150,000 to NT$220,000 per month on credit card purchases from September 2012 to September.
The purchases were much more than Yu could have afforded on his monthly salary of NT$100,000, the ministry said.
About NT$9 million from an unidentified source was deposited in Yu’s account during that period, leading investigators to suspect more strongly that he was taking bribes in exchange for manipulating share prices of locally listed firms.
A Taipei court yesterday ordered that Yu be detained.
On Sept. 18, Yu was removed from his post at the bureau, after the Department of Civil Service Ethics ordered an investigation into his investment practices.
The probe found that Yu privately traded on the Emerging Stock Market during work hours and the bureau on Nov. 11 gave him a demerit, the ministry said.
The case was reported to the Agency Against Corruption, the ministry said, asking for further investigation over concerns that Yu might have broken the law.
Yu breached the Anti-Corruption Act by allegedly taking bribes and failing to disclose the source of his income, and breached the Securities and Exchange Act by manipulating stock prices, prosecutors said.
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