Two Taiwanese have been given suspended sentences after being found guilty of illegally recruiting personnel for a Hsinchu-based Chinese high-tech company.
The two people, identified by their family names, Lin (林) and Huang (黃), each received a four-month jail term suspended for two years and were ordered to pay NT$150,000, Hsinchu District Court documents showed.
The sentences can be appealed.
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
The court found the two guilty of contravening the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), which stipulates that Chinese companies or “third-area” subsidiaries are not allowed to “engage in business activities” in Taiwan without permission.
Among the activities they cannot engage in under the provision are sales, research and development, and recruiting.
Both were hired by chip design company SmartSens Technology (Shanghai) Co, with Lin as business development director, while Huang was a senior operations manager, the court documents said.
Despite knowing that SmartSens was a Chinese tech company that cannot engage in business activities in Taiwan without permission from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the two rented office space in Hsinshu County’s Jhubei City (竹北) on its behalf, the court documents said.
Lin and Huang recruited eight other people to form a sales team, whose salaries were paid through the Shanghai company’s office in Hong Kong to avoid suspicion from Taiwanese authorities, the documents said.
According to information on SmartSens Technology’s Web site, the company designs, develops and sells complementary metal-oxide semiconductor image sensors for the security and automotive industries, and for other uses.
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