Former SET TV host Lee Tian-yi (李天怡) and two others were on Tuesday acquitted of breach of faith for their roles in arranging a deal to bring wild animals from Africa to a zoo in Taiwan, the Taipei District Court said.
The ruling can be appealed.
Lee served as the main contact for the Wanpi World Safari Zoo in Tainan’s Syuejia District (學甲) — which sought to import giraffes and zebras from Africa — while also being listed as a director of Pacific Image Ltd, which she and others set up to arrange the import of animals, prosecutors said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Pacific Image artificially inflated the price of the animals in negotiating the US$5.46 million contract that caused the zoo to lose US$2.37 million, they said.
Prosecutors said that Lee was guilty of breach of faith, as she did not act in the best interests of the zoo.
However, the court ruled that she was not guilty, because she had no decisionmaking authority and was only responsible for passing information between the two parties.
The decisions to sign the US$5.46 million contract to bring the animals to Taipei and then to not go through with importing them the following year were made by the plaintiff, SET Group chairman and zoo owner Chang Rong-hua (張榮華), the court said.
The court also acquitted Lee’s husband and a businessman, who were implicated in the case.
The court dismissed prosecutors’ allegations that Lee played both sides in the deal.
After Chang took over the zoo in early 2020, he asked Lee for help importing African wildlife, because he believed she had connections in Africa as she often traveled to the continent for her TV program, prosecutors said.
Believing that Lee submitted the best price, Chang signed the contract with Pacific Image in 2020 to import giraffes, zebras and other animals, prosecutors said.
Upon signing the contract, Chang gave US$3.79 million to Pacific Image, and Pacific Image distributed US$250,000 as a dividend to a Hong Kong belonging to Lee’s husband — also a director at Pacific Image.
However, Chang decided the next year to cancel the purchase after animal rights groups in Taiwan voiced concern that importing the animals would encourage poaching and threaten the African wildlife population.
During further discussions, Chang’s staff became suspicious of Lee and reported the case to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
An investigation by the prosecutors found that the defendants asked US$54,000 for a giraffe and US$14,000 for a zebra, which was about four times the price quoted by their contact in southern Africa.
Prosecutors said that the inflated price had led to a loss of US$2.37 million for the zoo, while Lee and her husband made a profit of about US$250,000.
The court ruled that Chang forfeited the US$3.79 million payment to Pacific Image when he reneged on importing the animals.
It also rejected the prosecutors’ argument that Lee and her partners were responsible for part of that amount, because of the high markup they put on the price of the animals.
Prosecutors said they would consider appealing the ruling.
SET TV issued a statement saying it would seek an appeal.
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