Taipei Times
Date: Feb 26, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Consumer rights groups and members of the public yesterday criticized a ruling by the Changhua District Court to commute a prison term given to former Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co (頂新) chairman Wei Ying-chung (魏應充) to a fine.

The court on Thursday sentenced Wei to three years in prison on charges of tax evasion, which arose during an investigation into a series of tainted food scandals in 2013 and 2014, but the judge commuted the sentence into a fine of NT$3.3 million (US$107,667), or a fine of NT$3,000 per day in lieu of serving his sentence.

The court sentenced the company’s accountant Chen Hsi-hsun (陳錫勳) to 22 months in prison, which can be commuted into a fine of NT$1,000 per day.

Ting Hsin failed to issue uniform invoices for sales of goods worth NT$732 million between January 2006 and December 2013 in an attempt to evade taxes, Changhua district prosecutors said.    [FULL  STORY]