Tycoon jailed over cooking oil scandal
Print Edition
A TAIWAN tycoon was jailed for four years yesterday over a tainted cooking oil scandal that sparked outrage across the island.
Wei Ying-chung was found guilty of fraud by a panel of judges, months after hundreds of angry consumers took to the streets in protest when he escaped conviction on related charges.
In a statement, Taipei district court said Wei had “falsely labeled the products and sold adulterated food to defraud and obtain profits.”
Wei is the former chairman of Wei Chuan Foods Corp — a unit of food giant Ting Hsin International Group, which owns the popular Master Kong instant noodle brand.
He came under investigation after a supplier that makes Wei Chuan-brand cooking oil was accused of using banned coloring agent copper chlorophyllin and cheap cottonseed oil.
In a statement read by his lawyer, Wei said there had been “misunderstandings over the facts.”
“I will humbly reflect on myself and continue to work hard. We didn’t sell tainted food and I have a clear conscience,” Wei added.
His lawyer said he intends to appeal.
Among 12 other Wei Chuan and Ting Hsin employees indicted in the case, 11 received jail terms of up to three years and 10 months, while one was acquitted.
The Wei Chuan company was also fined NT$15.5 million (US$476,000).
Wei has insisted his company was unaware the oil it purchased from the supplier, Changchi Foodstuff Co, contained the banned ingredients. The company was ordered to recall tens of thousands of bottles of the tainted oil.
Wei was acquitted last November, along with five others, on charges that his company made and sold cooking oil adulterated with imported fat extracted from unhealthy animals.
The court said prosecutors failed to prove Ting Hsin imported raw materials from Vietnam that were not suitable for human consumption, or that the company’s products were manufactured under unsanitary conditions.
That triggered a public outcry, with consumers boycotting the company’s products and hundreds of people turning out in protest at Wei’s acquittal.
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