Ting Hsin food tycoon Wei Ying-chun may face 30 years in jail over oil scandal

A tycoon from one of Taiwan's richest families could spend 30 years behind bars after being charged yesterday with dozens of counts of fraud over a food scandal that has set off a groundswell of opposition to the business empire.

The Changhua District Prosecutors Office said Wei Ying-chun, the third of the four Wei brothers of Ting Hsin International Group, was indicted on 139 counts of fraud after various group subsidiaries were found to have either used or sold cooking oil blended with oil products meant for animal feed or industrial use.

"We have recommended that the court sentence [Wei Ying-chun] to 30 years in prison," an office spokesman said.

The spokesman said prosecutors also sought sentences of up to 25 years for three other key defendants, including former general manager Chang Mei-feng. He said Wei Ying-chun would be also be prosecuted separately for allegedly evading up to NT$730 million (HK$186 million) in tax since 2006.

Wei Ying-chun has denied all of the charges, saying that he had no idea of the irregularities since the subsidiaries were "all handled by people of different responsibilities".

The charges are yet another blow to the family ranked by Forbes magazine in June as the island's second-richest, with an estimated worth of US$8.6 billion through their investments in the food, real estate and telecom sectors.