Executive in tainted oil case gets NT$20 million bail; prosecutors appeal

Taipei, July 11 (CNA) The general manager of Central Union Oil Corp. has been released on NT$20 million (US$622,791) bail as prosecutors continue to look into why cooking oil manufactured by the company contained excessive amounts of the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene.

The Taichung District Court also ordered the company's chairman released on NT$20 million bail, its plant manager released on NT$1 million bail, and 10 other suspects released on bail ranging from NT$500,000 to NT$10 million pending further investigation.

Prosecutors immediately appealed the bail ruling for the company's general manager Yu Ling-chung (余凌沖) but not for any of the other bail orders issued late Friday night.

As part of Yu's bail order, he was placed under residential restrictions, barred from leaving Taiwan by air or sea, and required to report to police regularly, but prosecutors were not satisfied with those limitations.

Central Union is being investigated for allegedly manufacturing 1,300 metric tons of soy-based cooking oil containing four times the legal limit of benzo[a]pyrene and supplying it between April and June to major food processors.

Those food processors then sold a range of products containing the tainted oil to smaller food processors or restaurants.

The government has ordered that all edible oil products manufactured by Central Union during that period be recalled and that all products containing Central Union's oil be pulled from store shelves.

The Taichung District Prosecutors' Office launched coordinated raids Friday with investigators from the Investigation Bureau, the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA), the Taichung Food and Drug Safety Department and the Changhua County Public Health Bureau.

Searches were carried out at six locations linked to four companies: Central Union, the Namchow Group, Formosa Oilseed Processing Co., and Taisun Enterprise Co.

Authorities seized equipment, emails, meeting records, inspection reports, shipping and production records, import declarations, USB drives, and cellphones, among other evidence.

Prosecutors questioned 11 suspects, including Central Union Chairman Tsai Ching-sung (蔡清松), Yu and a plant manager surnamed Chen (陳), as well as 13 witnesses.

After questioning, prosecutors said all 11 suspects were strongly suspected of violating the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and related offenses.

They sought Yu's detention without visitation rights, arguing there was sufficient evidence to believe he posed a risk of destroying or fabricating evidence and colluding with co-defendants or witnesses.