Cooking oil firm's boss appears in Taiwan court over food scandal
PUBLISHED : Friday, 17 October, 2014, 6:38pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 18 October, 2014, 12:24pm
Lawrence Chung in Taipei [email protected]
Wei Ying-chung was questioned on Thursday night by prosecutors for his company's allegedly selling edible oil blended with that meant for animal feed. Photo: SCMP Pictures
A Taiwan court yesterday ordered the detention of the former head of Wei Chuan Food, a subsidiary of mainland-based Ting Hsin International Group, over his alleged role in a cooking oil scandal.
Wei Ying-chung, 57, one of four brothers of the Wei family that owns the group, was questioned by prosecutors on Thursday for allegedly selling edible oil blended with products meant for animal feed.
He appeared in court yesterday for a hearing after prosecutors requested the court to place him in custody in preparation for an official indictment.
"We have decided to detain him for fear that he might collude with others to provide falsified accounts or flee abroad," a spokesman of the Changhua District Court in central Taiwan said.
The court also detained a manager of a factory owned by Ting Hsin Oil in Pingtung, southern Taiwan, for his alleged connection to the food scare.
Judicial officials said that during the hearing Wei denied all accusations, saying he had no idea why cooking oil supplied by Cheng I and Ting Hsin - two Taiwanese subsidiaries of Ting Hsin group - had been blended with substandard ingredients.
"But after we showed him some minutes of a meeting and papers signed by him, he was unable to explain why there were such records," one official said.
Both Cheng I and Ting Hsin were found to have bought substandard oil, including that meant for animal feed, in Taiwan, Vietnam and Hong Kong, and blended it with edible oil for resale in Taiwan and abroad, according to prosecutors and Food and Drug Administration.
Wei Chuan Food was also found to have used the tainted oil in various products, which, together with the tainted oil, were pulled from shelves by health authorities in the past week.
Wei was allegedly involved in another edible oil scandal in November that involved Wei Chuan Food buying low-priced cotton-seed oil containing copper chlorophyllin from a local oil supplier to sell as "pure" olive oil. That time Wei was questioned by prosecutors for suspected fraud, but was released on bail of NT$10 million (HK$2.6 million) with restrictions on leaving Taiwan.
Last week, Wei resigned as chairman of Wei Chuan as well as Cheng I and Ting Hsin.
Yesterday, Ting Hsin group announced its withdrawal from Taiwan's edible oil market.
