4 firms, 15 individuals indicted in contaminated cooking oil scandal

Taipei, Aug. 18 (CNA) The Taichung District Prosecutors Office on Tuesday indicted four companies and 15 individuals in connection with cooking oil produced by Central Union Oil Corp. that was contaminated with the carcinogen benzo[a]pyrene (BaP).

Central Union, Taisun Enterprise Co., Fwusow Industry Co. and Formosa Oilseed Processing Co., along with officials from the four companies, were indicted on charges including violations of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation, forgery and fraud, prosecutors said in a news release.

The case surfaced after Central Union reported the contamination on June 30. Subsequent investigations identified seven batches of soybean-based cooking oil produced by the company that contained excessive levels of BaP -- a Group 1 carcinogen -- affecting more than 13,000 businesses across Taiwan.

Prosecutors allege that Central Union Chairman Tsai Ching-sung (蔡清松), General Manager Yu Ling-chung (余凌冲), factory manager Chen Ming-jung (陳明榮) and other senior officials knew that certain shipments of soybeans imported from Brazil had higher levels of heat damage, increasing the risk of BaP forming during the manufacturing process.

However, they allegedly loosened the company's heat-damage control standard from 0.5 percent to 5 percent without introducing corresponding measures such as increased testing and monitoring, prosecutors said.

The officials learned of abnormal BaP test results for semi-finished degummed oil in May, but allegedly failed to take timely action, including conducting an inventory and improving the manufacturing process. They also failed to report the test results to the Taiwan Food and Drug Administration as required under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation or recall affected products, prosecutors said.

Instead, Central Union did not report the contamination to authorities until June 30, prosecutors alleged.

Based on test results, manufacturing records and product distribution records, prosecutors said seven batches of oil totaling 8,478 metric tons and containing excessive levels of BaP were distributed to Taisun, Fwusow and Formosa Oilseed for repackaging, mixing and sale.

Prosecutors also accused senior officials at the three companies of knowing in May and June that the cooking oil they received had contamination problems but failing to promptly suspend sales, remove affected products from shelves or report the matter to the competent authority.

Instead, the companies allegedly continued repackaging, mixing and selling the affected products to downstream food businesses and consumers who were unaware of the contamination, prosecutors said.

In addition to Central Union's Tsai, Yu and Chen, others indicted also include Fwusow Chairman Hung Yao-kun (洪堯昆) and General Manager Chao Jui-chiang (趙瑞強), Formosa Oilseed General Manager Chang Chih-ping (張志賓), and Taisun Chairman Liu Wei-lung (劉偉龍), as well as former and current general managers Shen Yi-chun (沈怡君) and Tsai Kuo-liang (蔡國樑).

Prosecutors also alleged that Central Union underreported the amount of contaminated oil in its No. 315 storage tank when it reported the contamination on June 30. The company reported 522,176 kilograms, but the actual amount was more than 1.28 million kilograms, prosecutors said.

The discrepancy hindered authorities' ability to trace the contaminated products and accurately identify and recall affected products, they added.

Through the alleged sale of the affected products, Fwusow officials personally profited by NT$5.31 million (US$166,330), while Formosa Oilseed and Taisun officials pocketed NT$1.96 million and NT$287,309, respectively, prosecutors said.

The prosecutors office estimated the companies' total illicit gains in the case at about NT$887.31 million and is seeking to seize and recover NT$373.07 million from Central Union, NT$200.13 million from Fwusow, NT$183.9 million from Formosa Oilseed and NT$130.21 million from Taisun.

The office conducted four raids between July 9 and Aug. 4, seizing evidence including mobile phones, computers, hard drives, manufacturing documents and testing records, the statement said.

The court approved prosecutors' requests to detain Central Union's Yu and Chen and Taisun's Shen and Tsai incommunicado. It also approved requests to seize all real estate owned by the four companies, prosecutors said.