Former, current agriculture chiefs questioned over egg import case

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Three major figures implicated in a controversial scheme to import eggs to deal with a domestic shortage in 2022 were released without having to put up bail after being questioned by prosecutors.

The three people questioned, all listed as possible defendants in the case, were former agricultural chief Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), current agricultural chief Chen Chun-chi (陳駿季), and former National Animal Industry Foundation (NAIF) President Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢).

Prosecutors did not specify why the two Chens were named as possible suspects for violating the Anti-Corruption Act, though Chen Chi-chung was in office in 2022 when the alleged illegal behavior occurred.

The case originated in 2022 when Taiwan faced an egg shortage, prompting the then Council of Agriculture (COA, now the Ministry of Agriculture) to import eggs from other countries.

According to reports by the Control Yuan, Taiwan's government watchdog, the NAIF was defrauded of more than NT$100 million (US$3.12 million) after being entrusted by the COA in 2022 to handle the emergency egg supply issue and related production and marketing adjustment plan.

One of the countries from which Taiwan wanted to import eggs was Japan, and the NAIF commissioned Wu Yu-fei (吳諭非), a food company representative familiar with trade with Japan, to coordinate the purchases.

She first specified a company called Brilliance Biotechnology as the importer, before Chin Yu-chiao (秦語喬), her mother, founded Ultra Source to handle imports, the Control Yuan said.

As a result, the NAIF contracted Brilliance Biotechnology to import eggs from Japan from March to May 2022 and then bought more than 25 million eggs from Ultra Source between August and November that the company had stocked after importing them from Japan, according to the Control Yuan.

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

In a Control Yuan report, it also cited prosecutors as finding that Ultra Source repeatedly forged quotations and inflated import charges to defraud the government-funded NAIF of NT$100 million.

When the case came to light, the choice of Ultra Source was particularly scrutinized because it had no record of previous egg imports and was established with only NT$500,000 in paid-in capital.

In September, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office in collaboration with other investigation units raided 14 locations and summoned eight individuals and three other witnesses for questioning.

After questioning, Lin I-lung (林宜龍), head of Brilliance Biotechnology, Wu Chun-ta (吳俊達), then a specialist at the foundation, and Lin Chang-hsien (林昌憲), an employee at Brilliance Biotechnology, were released on bail of NT$1 million, NT$500,000 and NT$300,000, respectively.

Prosecutors have also sought to question Wu Yu-fei, but she has not answered the summons because she has been in Japan.