Ex-CPC oil exec goes missing days before sentencing for corruption

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) The former head of the refinery division of state-run oil supplier CPC Corp., Taiwan removed his ankle monitor and went missing in Pingtung County Thursday, just days before he was due to be sentenced for corruption.

In a statement, the Ciaotou District Court said it activated a response plan after receiving a notification that former CPC executive Hsu Han (徐漢), who was scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, had removed his electronic monitoring device.

The Chinese-language United Daily News reported that Hsu's ankle monitor stopped sending out signals at around noon, and that law enforcement later recovered the broken device in Pingtung's Wanluan Township.

Prosecutors "strongly suspect" that Hsu -- who has family members overseas and who had applied unsuccessfully for permission to travel abroad for his son's wedding while out on bail -- headed south toward the Pingtung coast to be smuggled out of Taiwan by sea, the report said.

Now in his mid-60s, Hsu took over as chief executive of CPC Corp., Taiwan'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 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. The court said there was ample reason to believe Hsu could try to flee, as his two sons had lived abroad for many years and his wife left Taiwan in 2023.