Broker couple indicted over illegal Taiwan-Indonesia remittances

Taipei, Jan. 12 (CNA) A Taiwanese labor broker and his Indonesian wife have been indicted for allegedly running an underground Taiwan-Indonesia remittance service for more than a decade, handling over NT$5.1 billion (US$161.28 million) in transfers and earning at least NT$26.66 million in fees.

The indicted broker, surnamed Chuang (莊), and his Indonesian wife, surnamed Huang (黃), were charged with violating Article 29 of the Banking Act, according to a statement issued by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office on Monday.

The article stipulates that non-banks are prohibited from "accepting deposits, managing trust funds or public property under entrustment or handling domestic or foreign remittances."

The office said Chuang, the de facto head of three Taiwanese companies, is suspected of operating unauthorized money-transfer services starting in August 2013.

Prosecutors allege that Chuang partnered with multiple Southeast Asian grocery stores in Taiwan that were unaware of the scheme to solicit customers who wanted to remit money to Indonesia, including migrant workers.

Customers either used a website set up by one of Chuang's companies or went to the grocery stores to fill out forms and hand over cash, prosecutors said, adding that the stores would then deposit the money into Taiwan bank accounts held under Chuang's companies.

After receiving the deposits, Huang would transfer the equivalent amount in Indonesian rupiah to recipients in Indonesia via online banking from her account at Bank Central Asia, a private bank in Indonesia, prosecutors said.

From 2020, the operation switched to an account opened in the name of one of Chuang's companies at Bank Rakyat Indonesia, the prosecutors added.

In terms of handling fees, customers were charged NT$100 by the grocery stores for transfers that arrived in one to two days, while "express" transfers that arrived within one to two hours cost NT$150 to NT$300, according to the statement.

The grocery stores, in turn, passed on most of the profits -- NT$80 per regular transfer and NT$120 per "express" transfer -- to Chuang's companies.

Prosecutors also alleged Chuang worked with an overseas Indonesian underground remittance operator surnamed Su (蘇), who recruited clients in Indonesia, Hong Kong and Malaysia seeking to send payments such as goods-related remittances to Taiwan.

It is estimated the couple handled about NT$5.16 billion in transfers between August 2013 and August 2025, earning at least NT$26.66 million in fees, the statement read.

Chuang argued that he was only helping migrant workers settle their wages and exchange foreign currency, but prosecutors said such services are limited to licensed labor brokers under specific conditions and do not permit operators to run cross-border remittance businesses on their own.

While prosecutors asked the court to confiscate the couple's illegal gains of NT$26.66 million, Chuang and Huang also face a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to NT$10 million under the Banking Act.