Prosecutors search Gold Apollo, BAC offices over Hezbollah pager explosions

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's Shilin District Prosecutors Office on Thursday searched the offices of pager manufacturers Gold Apollo and BAC Consulting KFT, following a series of pager explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday that killed and wounded many members of the militant Hezbollah group.

Prosecutors seized account books, contracts, authorization agreements, and export documents to clarify the manufacturing process of the pagers, as well as actual contracts, royalties, and profit-sharing details between Gold Apollo and BAC's office in Taiwan.

Prosecutors on Thursday also questioned Hsu Ching-kuang (許清光), chairman of Gold Apollo, the Taiwanese company that foreign media alleged to be the company from which Hezbollah had ordered their pagers.

Speaking to the media on Wednesday, Hsu said the batch of pagers that exploded was manufactured by the Hungarian-based firm BAC Consulting KFT, which became a distributor of Gold Apollo products in certain areas three years ago.

Less than two years ago, BAC started to manufacture the pagers on its own while continuing to use Gold Apollo's brand, according to Hsu.

The Shilin District Prosecutors Office opened a case for investigation on Wednesday and it was found that BAC's office in Taiwan is registered under the name Apollo Systems Ltd. (阿波羅系列有限公司), with a total capital of NT$100,000 (US$3,127).

The company, based in a commercial building in Taipei's Neihu District, was officially registered with the Taipei City Government on April 11 of this year. Its business operations include the wholesale of electronic materials and the retail of telecommunications equipment, according to authorities.

On Thursday, CNA reporters visited the office located within a shared office space managed by Taiwan Asset Management Corporation (TAMCO). They observed a mailbox labeled S05, which was decorated with the Apollo Systems Ltd. logo.

CNA reporters rang the doorbell, intending to go inside for a closer look. However, after identifying themselves as journalists, they were denied access by the reception staff and were unable to confirm whether the BAC office was actively operating.

TAMCO said in a statement on Thursday that it is unaware of the business activities of its tenants and will actively cooperate with prosecutors.

According to the statement, Apollo Systems submitted preliminary documents for business registration to TAMCO on March 29 this year, applying to lease a seat in the shared office space.

TAMCO said that following a background check on the person in charge of Apollo Systems, including credit and legal records, the lease was approved.

The rental period is from April 1 this year to March 31, 2025, with a monthly rent of NT$2,800, the statement said.

According to the statement, the person in charge of Apollo Systems has occasionally visited the shared office space, but has not been seen recently.

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on Wednesday that Gold Apollo had no record of directly exporting products to Lebanon in recent years.

Gold Apollo manufactures and assembles its products in Taiwan, and mainly exports products to Europe and North America, the MOEA said.

Meanwhile, Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesperson for the Hungarian government said in a post on X Wednesday that BAC "is a trading intermediary, with no manufacturing or operational site in Hungary."

He added, "It has one manager registered at its declared address, and the referenced devices have never been in Hungary."