Taichung man, 6 bank managers indicted for laundering NT$3.6 billion

Taipei, April 23 (CNA) A Taichung man and six area bank managers whom he persuaded to let him open corporate accounts used for laundering money from fraud and gambling rings were indicted on Thursday by prosecutors.

In a news release, the Taichung District Prosecutors Office said it received a tip-off last December that the main suspect, Wan Li Development Ltd. owner Hung Yueh-peng (洪岳鵬), was involved in laundering money from gambling and fraud rings.

Prosecutors, along with the Investigation Bureau and Taichung police, decided to investigate by tracing cash flows from Hung's various accounts, through which they discovered he was acting with assistance from several Taichung Commercial Bank branch managers.

According to the indictment, Hung instructed managers at Taichung Bank's Tanzi, Beitun, Zhongzheng and Toufen branches to help him set up corporate accounts for 12 shell companies between September 2024 and April 2025.

After opening the accounts, the managers assisted Hung in raising the accounts' transfer limits as high as NT$20 million, and delayed reporting to authorities when the accounts' activity triggered a suspected money laundering alert.

Even in cases that did get reported, the bank managers did not follow up by suspending, restricting or terminating the accounts' ability to make money transfers, prosecutors said.

In total, more than NT$3.6 billion (US$114.05 million) in illicit funds from gambling and fraud rings were laundered through Hung's accounts with the bank managers' assistance, the indictment said.

Following their investigation, prosecutors conducted searches of Hung's company and four Taichung Bank branches in March, seizing bank deposits and real estate worth over NT$200 million.

In addition to Hung, Thursday's indictment also charged the managers of Taichung Bank's Tanzi, Toufen, Zhongzheng and Beitun branches, as well as assistant managers at the Zhongzheng and Beitun branches.

The suspects were charged with a range of crimes, including aggravated fraud, gambling, forgery, breach of duty under the Banking Act, and violations of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and Organized Crime Prevention Act.

Three of the suspects -- Hung, the Tanzi branch manager surnamed Chang (張), and the Toufen branch manager surnamed Chuang (莊) -- have been in pre-charge detention, and on Thursday, prosecutors requested court permission to continue to detain them ahead of the trial.