Chen-related firms targeted

After acquiring China Development Financial Holding, the Chinatrust Group’s Chinatrust Financial Holding attempted to take a further step of controlling Mega Financial Holding.

Cheng Sheng-chih was appointed as chairman of Mega Financial by Chen’s administration as the representative of government stakes in the company.

But Cheng was suspected of taking steps to let Chinatrust to move into Mega.

The deal was suspended following public outcries and criticisms of the lawmakers of then opposition Kuomintang.

The aborted merger case is still under investigation.

Chinatrust, founded by veteran financier and influential business leader Jeffrey L.S. Koo, Sr., issued a statement to deny the media reports and market speculation that Chinatrust Financial and its affiliated had committed irregularities in any cases that have come under the probe of the special criminal investigation task force.

Koo, who is presently leading a Taiwan business delegation for a visit in Beijing, also stressed in the statement that his group will give full cooperation for the probe.

But Chinatrust is still waging legal battles on several fronts.

Jeffrey J.L. Koo, Jr., the eldest son of Koo and a former top executive of Chinatrust Financial, has been placed on a wanted list after he refused to return to Taiwan to answer questions concerning his allegedly involvement in irregularities in a the takeover attempt targeted at Mega Financial Holding.

The Taipei District Court gave a verdict on Oct. 7 to sentence several Chinatrust executives for breaking rules in acquiring China Development Financial Holding. Two former chief finance officers and one former chief legal officer were given jail terms ranging from seven years and two months to eight years separately.

Meanwhile, the special criminal investigation task force yesterday interviewed a manager and a sales clerk of Cartier’s Taiwan office to question if former President Chen’s daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching had ordered jewelry worth over NT$10 million.

The probe was made after local media reported that Huang placed the costly purchasing order although she has no work or steady income. The report also said that she called off the deal after the family’s suspected money laundering operations were widely reported in Taiwan.

But Huang still took a bracelet worth NT$700,000 after she was unable to get refund for the down payment, according to the report.

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