Taiwan food company boss jailed for 20 years over ‘gutter oil’ scandal
Yeh Wen-hsiang, chairman of Chang Guann, also fined US$1.6 million for selling on 243 tonnes of tainted oil that led foods being removed from Taiwan and Hong Kong stores and hotels
A court has sentenced the head of a Taiwanese company to 20 years in jail for his role at the centre of a “gutter oil” scandal that gripped the island’s food industry and brought down a minister.
Yeh Wen-hsiang, chairman of Chang Guann, was also fined NT$50 million (US$1.6 million) for his part in selling on 243 tonnes of tainted oil collected from cookers, fryers, and grease traps, as well as recycled grease from leather processing plants.
He was first detained in September 2014 after the accusations came to light, but was released on bail in October, before being found guilty of safety violations last week. Yeh was sentenced on Friday.
Last September, at the height of the scandal, Yeh made a public apology and drank a cup of his company's cooking oil to prove it was safe.
Hundreds of tonnes of cakes, bread, instant noodles, cookies, steamed buns and dumplings had to be removed from shelves in Taiwan and Hong Kong when the case surfaced, authorities said.