Taiwan News
Date: 2016-10-04
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Prosecutors on Tuesday applied for the detention of former Mega Financial
Ruentex Group Chairman Samuel Yin (center).
Holding Chairman McKinney Tsai following the overnight questioning of tycoon Samuel Yin, while seven government officials were referred to the Control Yuan amid an escalation in the scandal surrounding the state-owned financial group.
Mega International Commercial Bank, which Tsai also chaired, has been at the center of allegations of money laundering since New York State’s Department of Financial Service fined its New York branch US$180 million last August 19 over a number of suspicious transactions with a Mega office in Panama.
In the latest development, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office reportedly found out that Mega handed out NT$26.8 billion (US$853 million) in loans to Yin’s Ruentex Group, while Tsai joined an affiliate of the group as chairman after he retired from the state-run company earlier this year.
Monday evening, the investigators began questioning 18 people, including Yin, who was allowed to return home as a witness a 4 a.m. Tuesday. However, the prosecutors announced later they wanted Tsai and Mega’s former chief secretary, Wang Chi-pang, detained for a strong suspicion of violations of the Securities and Exchange Act, reports said. [FULL STORY]
