3 sentenced for defrauding Navy of NT$82 million

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) Three ranking employees at a technology group have been sentenced to jail terms for defrauding the Navy by selling it Chinese equipment, racking up NT$82.59 million in illicit profits, according to New Taipei District Court on Monday.

The court said Lai Cheng-hsing (賴正興), who was responsible for operations at MACRO-e Technology Co., Ltd. at the time, was handed a two-year-and-a-half sentence on charges of aggravated fraud in the case related to the Navy's procurement of radar generators in 2019.

Another MACRO-e Technology manager surnamed Lin (林) and a woman identified as Ho (何) responsible for an affiliate of the group, also received jail sentences of 22 months and 18 months, respectively, for their roles in the fraud.

The court found that the three defrauded the Navy by selling it Chinese-made generators in three tenders that required products and parts to be made in Europe, Japan and the United States, specifically excluding Chinese-made products, including those transshipped from third countries.

According to the prosecutors' investigation, five companies participated in the Navy's four tenders, with MACRO-e Technology successfully bidding for three of them by offering prices 80 percent below the base prices at a total of NT$92.25 million.

Although Navy personnel inquired about the prices, the company showed them past documents and bidding records guaranteeing that all the products they purchased would be from Europe.

However, the court said prosecutors discovered that MACRO-e Technology only bought 12 generators from Spain, with another 26 imported from Chinese companies.

The investigation indicated that all three individuals were aware of the facts, but colluded to defraud the Navy with forged documents and certificates in Chinese or English.

The court ruled that the three were guilty of defrauding the Navy and handed down sentences based on the respective violations of the Criminal Code.

The ruling can be appealed.