Court orders Central Union Oil executive detained in tainted oil case

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) The Taichung District Court on Friday ordered Central Union Oil Corp. General Manager Yu Ling-chung (余凌冲) detained and held incommunicado after a higher court overturned an earlier ruling granting him bail in a tainted edible oil case.

Yu is under investigation over edible oil products found to contain excessive levels of benzo[a]pyrene, a carcinogen.

The district court last week ruled that detention was unnecessary and granted Yu bail of NT$20 million (US$621,960). It also imposed residential restrictions, an eight-month overseas travel ban and regular police check-ins.

Prosecutors appealed, and the Taichung branch of the Taiwan High Court on Thursday revoked the bail ruling.

The higher court said the district court had failed to adequately explain why detention was unnecessary despite Yu's alleged flight risk and the possibility that he could collude with others or tamper with evidence.

After reopening the detention hearing Friday afternoon, the district court ruled that the legal grounds and necessity for detention had been established and ordered Yu detained and held incommunicado.

The case stems from a July 9 raid in which prosecutors searched Central Union Oil and three other companies as part of an investigation into alleged violations of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation and the falsification of business documents.

Eleven suspects were questioned in the investigation.