Five prosecutors leading around 200 investigators from the Taipei District Prosecutors Office and Ministry of Justice raided over 20 locations including the group's subsidiaries and executives' residences June 14. EMG officials Hsieh Yin-lung and Tung Chia-ching were questioned June 15 and detained June 15 and 17 respectively.
Investigations targeted four illegal cases. In the first, Wang--whose father Wang You-theng is former chairman of the scandal-hit Rebar Asia Pacific Group--was questioned about evading taxes in 2001 by asking Eastern Multimedia Co. Ltd. to sell buildings it owned in Taipei City's Nangang District to the Wang-family-owned Union Insurance Co. for around US$4.5 million, Taiwan's Central News Agency reported July 2. EMC acquired US$2.7 million from Union before the deal was aborted, after which Union agreed to take the money back in 24 payments, suggesting that EMC was indirectly granted unsecured loans, thus violating the Security and Exchange Act and the Insurance Act.
In the second case, the TDPO suspected the group's Eastern Dome Management Co. Ltd. had conspired with Taipei City Government officials and another company in the May 2005 tender for a nine-year contract to operate the Taipei Arena, a sports facility built and owned by the city government. EDMC won the contract with a bid of US$47.9 million, which was only marginally higher than the minimum price of US$46.7 million announced by the TCG, CNA reported June 17.
In the third case, prosecutors probed EMG subsidiary Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co., a fixed-line operator, to see if there were irregularities in its sales of modems and cables, a June 14 TDPO news release stated. The fourth case related to EMC's possible loan swindling from the Chinese Bank under the Rebar Group in 2002. This could have violated the Banking Act, the Taiwan High Court said in a June 17 press release.
Wang You-theng was suspected of participating in EMC's land sales in Nangang and the APBT loan application, the THC release continued. Wang and his wife, Wang Chin Shyh-ying, fled to the United States after a series of illegal activities were exposed starting Dec. 29, 2006. Prosecutors indicted Wang and Wang Chin on charges of embezzlement March 8, seeking 30-year and 28-year prison sentences respectively. Wang was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was currently in the San Pedro Service Center, Los Angeles, CNA reported June 29.
Gary Wang was detained after prosecutors found he asked company employees to destroy related evidence, the THC said June 22. Wang had earlier been released June 16 on bail of US$3 million after questioning.
EMG regretted the court's decision to take Wang into custody, CNA reported, quoting a June 17 company statement. It expected judicial investigations would soon prove the detainee's innocence.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin said that any government official violating the law would be punished but that, so far, there was no concrete evidence indicating officials' illegal activities in the Taipei Arena case, CNA said June 22.
Write to Annie Huang at shihyin@mail.gio.gov.tw