TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The owner of one of Taiwan’s main shipbuilding companies was sentenced to 25 years in prison Friday (September 27) for fraudulently obtaining loans from banks to invest in China instead of building minesweepers for the Navy.

Appeals were still possible against the verdict, which also included a fine of NT$105 million (US$3.38 million) for Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co. (慶富造船) Chairman Chen Ching-nan (陳慶男), a fine of NT$280 million for the company, and an 18-month jail sentence for Chen’s wife and six months for a former executive director. One company adviser was found not guilty.

The Kaohsiung District Court took more than a year to reach the verdicts , the Central News Agency reported.

The case started in 2014, when Ching Fu won a Ministry of National Defense contract to build six minesweepers. However, Chen set up allegedly dummy companies to request loans totaling NT$35 billion from a dozen Taiwanese banks, using forged documents.

The company used some of the money to invest in hotels and an amusement park in China, prosecutors said.