Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/25
By: Chang Jung-hsiang and Elaine Hou

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Five individuals were found guilty of “negligent homicide” and handed five-year sentences after 115 residents of a housing complex in Tainan died when an earthquake hit the southern city in February, according to a Tainan District Court ruling Friday.

The defendants were also fined NT$90,000 (US$2,824) each, the ruling said. The case can be appealed.

A five-year sentence is the maximum punishment for “genocide through professional negligence.”

The defendants include Lin Ming-hui (林明輝), owner of Weiguan Corporation, which built the Weiguan Jinlong housing complex in 1993. The complex collapsed following a magnitude 6.4 earthquake on Feb. 6, killing 115 and injuring about 100 residents.    [FULL  STORY]

ILLEGAL HOLDING:The party has 30 days from the issuance of a disposition to hand over its shareholding rights to Central Investment, the ill-gotten assets committee said

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 26, 2016
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must transfer all its rights to shares issued by Central Investment

Co (中央投資公司) and Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台) to the government, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday, after concluding that the two companies were founded using illegally obtained assets.

Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said the committee would send the KMT a letter of disposition no later than Tuesday and give it 30 days to comply with the assets transfer.

The “rent” the KMT pays for its headquarters on Taipei’s Bade Road, Sec 2 — registered under Central Investment and Hsinkuanghua Co (欣光華股份有限公司) — must be paid to the government after the transfer of shareholding rights, Koo told a news conference after the committee meeting.

Central Investment is a wholly owned holding company of the KMT, while Hsinkuanghua is a fully owned subsidiary of Central Investment, the committee’s investigation found.

The KMT in late July signed a five-year contract with Central Investment and Hsinkuanghua to lease the building and paid the rent — totaling about NT$320 million (US$10 million) — in advance, despite not having allocated any funds for the rent this year, Koo said, adding that the KMT probably secured the lease out of fear of having its ill-gotten assets seized.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 26, 2016
By: The China Post news staff

Investigators raided TransAsia Airways’ headquarters, the residence of its chairman Vincent Lin (林明昇)

and five other related premises, Friday.

Lin, his father, and 10 others, including Chief Executive Officer Liu Tung-ming and Chief Finance Officer Yang Hsuan-yi, were taken to the Investigation Bureau’s Taipei branch office for questioning on Friday morning.

Vincent Lin and his father Lin Hsiao-hsin (林孝信) were transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in the afternoon for further interrogations.

The senior Lin smiled as he entered the prosecutors’ office, but declined to respond to questions from reporters.

Prosecutors and investigators launched a probe into possible insider trading based on findings by the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp. that senior employees at TransAsia had sold their shares in the company on Monday, Nov. 21, as rumors that the company would suspend its operations began to circulate.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan Today
Date: November 24, 2016

The Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture held a promotional event Nov. 22 in Taipei City to mark the 10th

anniversary of southern Taiwan’s Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park, highlighting the site’s success in diversifying the nation’s exports and outlining plans for its expansion.

Founded to promote the development of high value-added, low-pollution and technology-intensive agricultural products, the 233-hectare COA-administrated park in Pingtung County is home to 104 companies performing cutting-edge research in areas ranging from aquaculture to environmental control systems. PABP, which features onsite customs services as well as plant and animal health inspection and quarantine facilities, has attracted NT$9.4 billion (US$294.3 million) in investment since its establishment.

Representatives from nine resident firms attended the celebratory event to showcase their products and discuss the benefits of tenancy at the park. Among these were Fongyu Corp., Richfield Biotech Co. and TCI Co., which exhibited their fresh bass and bass-based processed foods, high-quality pig feed and dietary supplements, respectively.    [FULL  STORY]

In a chance occurrence, a 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck at 5:55 a.m. Friday, Nov. 25 off the eastern coast of Hualien County

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/11/25
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

In an odd coincidence, a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck at 5:55 a.m. Friday (the 5th day of the week),

Nov. 25 off the east coast of Taiwan’s Hualien County, according to the Central Weather Bureau (CWB). There have been no reports of injuries or damage so far.

According to the CWB, the temblor was centered 70.9 kilometers off the east coast of Hualien county at a depth of 19.6 kilometers.

An intensity level of 3 was felt in Yilan County, while an intensity level of 2 was felt in New Taipei City, Central New Taipei City, Taipei City, Central Taipei City, and Hualien Country.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/24
By: Lu Hsin-hui and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Thursday lauded the success of Taiwan’s

delegation to the just-concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting.

Tsai directed government agencies to learn from the achievements of the delegation, which she characterized as a model for turning opportunities for international participation into substantial benefits for the country.

Tsai made the comments during a meeting with Taiwan’s APEC delegation led by People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Tsai’s representative to the summit, who returned from Lima, Peru on Wednesday.

Noting that APEC is the most important economic and trade organization in the region, the president said that Taiwan attaches great importance to the annual economic leadership meeting. It also proactively participate in APEC-related activities and initiatives in order to engage in exchanges with the other 20 member countries.    [FULL  STORY]

PROOF:KMT officials insist the party has provided evidence of the legal sources of capital for Central Investment Co, which owns the building housing its headquarters

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 25, 2016
By: Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter

The government could take over the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) headquarters in Taipei’s

Zhongshan District (中山) if Central Investment Co (中央投資) — a KMT-funded holding company that owns the building — is found to be an illegally obtained asset, Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.

Koo said the committee is to hold an extraordinary meeting today to determine the status of Central Investment and its spinoff, Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台).

If the two companies are recognized as ill-gotten party assets, properties registered under the two companies — including the KMT headquarters — will be transferred to the government, Koo said during a radio interview on Wednesday.

If Central Investment is ordered to return the property to the state, the building could be used for public purposes, such as a library, after a lease between the KMT and Central Investment expires, Koo said.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 25, 2016
By: Christine Chou

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Following TransAsia Airways’ (復興航空) abrupt dissolution, local media reported that

Transportation Minister Ho Chen Tan (賀陳旦) had tendered his resignation — claims that the Executive Yuan denied.

As of press time, Ho Chen has yet to address the rumors.

Asked by lawmakers Thursday whether the government planned to take over the troubled airline, Ho Chen said the government did not currently have statutory authority to do so, but would consider the possibility.

“For the time being, the most important issue at hand is to protect passengers’ rights,” said Ho Chen, expressing his concern that low morale among TransAsia employees could pose a threat to flight security.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) urged the government to raise penalties if cases of “premeditated dissolution” arise in the future, arguing that the Civil Aviation Act (民航法), which levies fines amounting to a maximum of NT$3 million, too easily allows violating firms off the hook.

Ho Chen vowed the government would reevaluate current regulations to consider upping penalties and would examine whether TransAsia had breached the criminal code.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/11/23
By: Wang Yang-yu and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) A Latvian suspect in a First Bank ATM theft case offered his apologies to the

Taiwanese people three times at a court hearing Wednesday, but claimed that he had not intended to commit any crime as he thought he was only helping friends to “take something” in Taiwan.

Andrejs Peregudovs and two others were indicted in September on charges of stealing more than NT$83 million (US$2.6 million) from First Bank ATMs around July 10.

Peregudovs was responsible for hiding some NT$50 million in a locker at Taipei Railway Station on July 13, from where Romanian Mihail Colibaba and Moldovan Noklae Penkov took the cash three days later, according to police investigators.

All three, who have been detained by Taiwan police since their arrest July 17, were charged with fraud and offenses against computer security, according to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, which is seeking prison terms of 12 years for each of them.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: November 24, 2016
By: CNA

A coach and two students stranded on a paddleboard are seen in this photo taken by Coast Guard personnel who came to their rescue off Sizihwan beach in Kaohsiung, Wednesday, Nov. 23. The two students, both from National Sun Yat-sen University, were carried away by strong winds to open waters during a sailboat maneuver exercise. Their coach used the paddleboard to reach the pair and pulled them into the vessel, then waited for the Coast Guard to tow them safely back to shore.    [SOURCE]