Chairman who tainted firm's olive oil gets
16 years' jail
TAIPEI - The head of a
leading Taiwanese cooking oil company was sentenced to 16 years in
prison after being convicted on fraud and mislabelling charges in
one of the biggest food scandals to rock the island.
Kao Chen-li (right), chairman of the Changchi
Foodstuff Factory in Changhua, central Taiwan, was meted out the
punishment by the county district court yesterday after he was
caught adulterating olive oil for illegal profit.
Television images showed Kao, who did not attend
the court, being handcuffed and taken away by police as he reported
to the authorities as part of the investigation into the
scandal.
"The defendant had cheated consumers and reaped
huge benefits by adulterating oil products," the Changhua district
court said in a statement.
"Even worse, he had added copper chlorophyllin and
cotton-seed oil, causing unrest among the public," it said.
Copper chlorophyllin is a banned colouring agent.
Cotton-seed oil is a cheap ingredient that experts say could cause
infertility and impotence.
Kao's company was also fined NT$50 million (S$2.1
million).
The Changchi food scandal surfaced in mid-October,
after the company was found to have adulterated olive oil for
years.
Prosecutors in Changhua in October indicted Kao on
charges of violating food safety laws and making huge illegal
profits through false labelling.
The local government also slapped a record fine of
NT$1.85 billion on Kao.
Further investigation of the case by prosecutors
found that the tainted oil products manufactured by Kao had also
been supplied to other major cooking oil retailers in Taiwan.
Among them was Wei Chuan Foods Corp, the Taiwanese
unit of Ting Hsin International Group, which owns the Master Kong
instant noodle brand.
Wei Yin-chun, chairman of Wei Chuan, was released
on bail last month following an overnight interrogation on
suspicion of fraud and violating food safety laws.
But Wei insisted that his company was unaware when
it purchased oil from Changchi that it contained the banned
colouring agent.
Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said
in late October that the tainted oil manufactured by Changchi was
not imported to the island.
But a brand of sesame oil from Flavor Full, another
Taiwanese firm embroiled in the food scandal, had reached local
trade fairs in small number.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Asia, The Straits Times, Tuesday, December 17, 2013, Pg A10
