On-the-run CPC executive captured in Taitung

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) Hsu Han (徐漢), a former executive at state-run oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan, who went missing days before being sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption, was captured Tuesday in Taitung County, prosecutors said.

In a statement issued Tuesday evening, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office said Hsu had been taken into custody in Taitung's Jinfeng Township, without providing additional details.

Hsu went missing on March 19 after breaking and removing his ankle monitor in Pingtung's Wanluan Township. He was sentenced on Monday by the Ciaotou District Court to 25 years in prison.

According to the verdict, Hsu, in his mid-60s, worked at CPC for over 40 years, rising from an entry-level employee to become head of the company's refinery division in Kaohsiung's Nanzih District in 2019.

In January 2022, Ciaotou prosecutors and officials from the Ministry of Justice's Agency Against Corruption searched Hsu's office, seizing NT$27.1 million (US$848,177) in cash.

Prosecutors alleged Hsu used his procurement authority limit of NT$200 million to steer eight purchasing contracts worth almost NT$1 billion to select companies, which in turn paid him NT$16.86 million in bribes.

In addition to the bribes, Hsu was unable to explain the source of another NT$4.73 million in assets in his possession.

In May of that year, prosecutors indicted Hsu and 20 other suspects from three companies for violations of the Anti-Corruption Act and other crimes.

After being detained for over a year in the run-up to his trial, Hsu, who alone among the suspects maintained his innocence, was granted NT$5 million bail in June 2023, though he was banned from leaving the country and required to wear an ankle monitor.

In 2024, the Ciaotou District Court rejected a request by Hsu to travel abroad to attend his son's wedding, noting that most of his immediate family lived abroad and that he could try to flee.

In addition to the 25 years in prison Hsu received for 11 corruption-related offenses on Monday, he is now likely to face additional charges from prosecutors for attempting to flee.