TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei District Court on Tuesday ruled Jeffrey Koo Jr. (辜仲諒), former vice chair of CTBC Financial Holding Co., and four others charged with impropriety in the Chengcing Lake Building case will be subject to daily monitoring as they pose a flight risk.
One defendant in the case, former CTBC Bank chief financial manager Lin Hsiang-hsi (李祥曦), has been ordered to wear an electronic monitoring anklet. Li has New Zealand citizenship, and his family has recently relocated to the country, which increases the likelihood that he could flee, per Liberty Times.
The other defendants, including Koo, are restricted from leaving the country or going to sea, must carry their cell phones at all times and not turn them off, and must upload photos to a monitoring center within a specified time frame.
The judge said daily monitoring was necessary, as the four were each sentenced to lengthy prison terms ranging from 7 years and 8 months to 9 years and 6 months.
In court, Koo said that he would never flee Taiwan. He said his priority is the development of domestic baseball as the owner of the professional team, CTBC Brothers, and as president of the Taiwan Baseball Association and president of the Baseball Federation of Asia.
Koo said Taiwan is currently ranked second in international baseball, and he would never do anything to compromise this achievement. He said he will abide by the court's ruling.
Taipei District Prosecutors Office said the crimes committed by the four defendants were clear as they purposely circumvented financial regulations. Prosecutors added many defendants in major financial crimes who have posted high bail amounts still absconded overseas.
For example, Koo’s brother-in-law, Chen Chun-che (陳俊哲), also played a role in the building transaction and loan case, has already fled overseas, and has been placed on a fugitive list.
In 2019, prosecutors allege Koo and his colleagues, former CTBC Financial Chief Financial Officer Perry Chang (張明田), former CTBC Bank Chief Financial Manager Lin Hsiang-hsi (林祥曦), and former CTBC Investment Service board member Lee Sheng-kai (李聲凱), inflated the value of the Chengcing Lake Building by NT$100 million (US$3.35 million), leading to unnecessary losses for CTBC Bank.
Furthermore, the case was associated with other alleged improprieties in 2004 related to an offshore shell company Koo operated, Red Fire Development, which moved CTBC assets in a manner that breached public trust, later manipulating Mega Financial's structured notes to affect its stock price and gain illegal profits of US$30.47 million.
