Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) councilors in Yilan County on Friday asked the party to clarify DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po’s (陳歐珀) relationship with a suspect in a case of alleged fraud.
The party’s 11 councilors in the county signed a letter asking party headquarters to explain Chen’s ties to Tseng Kuo-wei (曾國緯), the founder of peer-to-peer lending platform im.B, with some asking that the decision to nominate Chen for next year’s legislative elections be re-evaluated.
Chen has denied any role in financial wrongdoing.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Tseng, who is also known as Tseng Yao-feng (曾耀鋒), founded im.B — which is shorthand for “I am bank” — in 2015. The firm promised clients that they could borrow money using mortgages as collateral, while it offered interest rates of 9 to 12 percent to investors.
Members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) earlier on Friday accused Chen of having close links to Tseng, who had given the lawmaker free use of residences, luxury vehicles and offices.
They demanded that Chen and the DPP apologize for being embroiled in a financial scandal.
Former New Power Party legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) accused Chen of setting up a campaign office in a commercial building owned by Tseng’s company and that a vehicle Chen uses is registered for business use by im.B executives.
Chen later apologized at a news conference in Taipei.
“Tseng has used different identities to deceive people and run illegal businesses for many years,” Chen said. “He has fooled many people by touting charity work. I was among those who were deceived. It was my mistake to befriend him while not knowing his background.”
“If I am found to have been involved in the fraud, I will not contest the legislative election,” he said.
Investigators earlier this month arrested Tseng and searched a real-estate company, Chwan Cheng Development, in Taoyuan that is registered under the name of his girfriend, surnamed Chang (張). Five people, including Tseng and Chang, had been detained as of May 5.
Prosecutors said that the im.B platform appears to be a Ponzi scheme.
Tseng conducted seminars across Taiwan, promising good returns for investors, prosecutors said, adding that fradulent profits totaled about NT$2.5 billion (US$81.49 million).
The suspects face charges of contravening the Banking Act (銀行法), prosecutors said.
Four thousand people have formed a self-help association, which on Friday filed complaints against Tseng, TV personality Sheng Zhu-ju (盛竹如) and 28 others who allegedly promoted im.B.
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