Supreme Court sentences ex-Ting Hsin boss over tainted oil scandal

Taipei, Nov. 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Supreme Court handed down a final verdict Wednesday for Wei Ying-chung (魏應充), former chairman of Ting Hsin Oil and Fat Industrial Co , sentencing him to five years and nine months in prison for his involvement in a tainted cooking oil scandal exposed in 2014.

The court rejected an appeal by Wei, confirming 26 charges against him and sentencing him to the jail term for seven of them, while ruling that the punishments for the 19 others are commutable to fines.

It also ordered a retrial on 45 other charges against Wei.

The court also confirmed the guilt of former executives of Ting Hsin and its affiliates -- Chang Mei-feng (常梅峰), Chen Mao-chia (陳茂嘉) and Yang Chen-yi (楊振益) -- on charges of fraud and contravention of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, giving them jail sentences for multiple offenses.

The Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court in April overturned an earlier not-guilty verdict for Wei and sentenced him to 15 years in jail for his part in the scandal, in which his company was accused of selling cooking oil containing problematic oil that was only supposed to be used for animal feed.

In the April ruling, the three executives were handed jail terms of varying lengths, while Ting Hsin was fined NT$250 million (US$8.23 million) for its role in the scandal.

Following Wednesday's verdict, Yu Ming-hsien (余明賢), an attorney representing Wei, said that Wei will file a motion for a retrial and an extraordinary appeal.

Meanwhile, the Changhua District Prosecutors' Office has taken steps to prevent Wei from fleeing to ensure that he serves his jail term, according to Prosecutor Yeh Chien-cheng (葉建成).