The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday issued a wanted bulletin for the arrest of investment company head Chung Wen-chih (鍾文智), who was convicted on fraud charges, after he jumped bail. Chung was president of Mo Tan Li International Investment Co, and owned a seafood business.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed him a 30-years-and-six-months prison term for profiting NT$470 million (US$14.26 million) from fraud in stock trading and the manipulation of Taiwan depositary receipts (TDRs) of five companies.
Chung was convicted on five counts of manipulating stock prices, contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), and two counts of money laundering.
Photo: Taipei Times
He previously appealed the first ruling in 2021, during which he was given an 18-year sentence, and the second ruling in 2022, when he was handed a slightly shorter prison term of 17 years and six months.
The court filing showed that the Taipei District Court did not put him in pretrial detention and released him on bail of NT$50 million in 2018. He was required to stay at home, could not go abroad and needed to report to the local police station every day.
After the first appeal, the court ordered Chung to pay an additional NT$30 million bail, with the same restrictions. He also only had to report to the police three times per week: Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
During his appeal to the High Court, Chung requested that the restriction on his movement be lifted and that he be allowed to travel abroad. He also filed an injunction to stop the weekly reporting to police.
The High Court denied his request and injunction, and imposed restrictions on movement and travel until the second ruling.
In October 2023, after a prominent figure in another financial crime case fled abroad, Chung was required to wear an ankle monitor so his daily movement could be tracked. He was later allowed to wear a lighter monitor on his wrist until his bail period ended in October last year.
He was ordered to pay an additional NT$20 million bail bond, but was not required to put on an electronic monitor.
Legal practitioners and experts said the High Court was negligent and had failed to handle the case properly.
As Chung was not required to wear a monitor, police could not track his movements and he was able to flee, they said.
The High Court in a statement on Friday said that Chung had met previous bail conditions, was still required to report to the local police and restricted from traveling abroad, and had been ordered to pay an accumulated bond amounting to NT$100 million — which they believed was enough to deter Chung from jumping bail — so they did not require Chung to wear an electronic monitor.
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