4 released on bail, banned from leaving country in egg import case

Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) Four individuals suspected of aggravated fraud and abusing public power for personal profit in a controversial egg import case were released on bail early Wednesday morning but were barred from leaving Taiwan.

The four were Chin Yu-chiao (秦語喬), head of Ultra Source Ltd. (超思), Lin I-lung (林宜龍), head of Brilliance Biotechnology Ltd. Co. (亮采), Wu Chun-ta (吳俊達), then a specialist at the government-funded National Animal Industry Foundation (NAIF), and Lin Chang-hsien (林昌憲), an employee at Brilliance Biotechnology.

Their respective bails were NT$2 million (US$62,736), NT$1 million, NT$500,000 and NT$300,000.

Four other suspects -- then-NAIF CEO and current Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) official Chen Chung-hsing (陳中興), then-NAIF supervisor Kung Jung-tai (龔榮太), Brilliance Biotechnology executive Wang Chao-hui (王朝輝) and a man identified by his surname Pang (龐) -- were questioned but released without bail.

The Taipei District Prosecutors Office raided 14 locations and summoned the eight suspects and three other witnesses for questioning on Tuesday night.

Another individual closely tied to the case, Wu Yu-fei (吳諭非), was summoned for questioning but did not show up because she is currently in Japan.

The case was highly controversial at the time because the companies involved in importing the eggs were not well established in the field or seemingly in position to handle large-volume imports, giving rise to corruption allegations.

According to reports by the Control Yuan, Taiwan's government watchdog, the NAIF was entrusted in 2022 by the MOA with the urgent task of procuring eggs to deal with a shortage at the time.

The NAIF contracted Brilliance Biotechnology to import eggs from Japan from March to May. It also bought more than 25 million eggs from Ultra Source between August and November 2022 that the company had stocked after importing them from Japan, the reports said.

The NAIF originally commissioned Wu Yu-fei (吳諭非), a food company representative and person familiar with trade with Japan, to coordinate the egg imports, and Wu specified Brilliance Biotechnology as the importer for the initial deal.

But Chin, who is Wu's mother, set up Ultra Source to handle sales of the eggs imported from Japan while Wu was collaborating with the NAIF.

The Control Yuan said the NAIF purchased eggs from Ultra Source before the company was even registered, and it also accused the NAIF of failing to check the quality and quantity of the eggs imported from Japan upon delivery, only filling out contract performance documents after the fact.

Regarding the unusually high prices of the eggs imported by the two companies, the Control Yuan said the prices reported by Brilliance Biotechnology were about twice the cost of the eggs declared at customs.

In addition, the NAIF made the purchase directly after only confirming the price over the telephone, without negotiations or setting a price range for the purchase, according to the Control Yuan, which said it reported this to prosecutors.

Prosecutors provided few details related to the actual transactions and the specific actions that led to their suspicions of fraud.