Agriculture Minister and others questioned in egg import case

• By Wang Ting-chuan and Lery Hiciano / Reporter, with editor

Former Agriculture Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲), National Animal Industry Foundation Chairman Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢), and Agriculture Minister Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) were summoned by Taipei prosecutors this morning to be questioned as defendants in an egg. Import scandal case.

According to a report from the Control Yuan, in 2022 the foundation in charge of importing eggs during a major shortage was defrauded of more than NT$100 million (US$3.12 million).

Photo: Lo Pei-te, Taipei Times

Many of the eggs expired while in storage, resulting in more than 54 million being disposed of.

The foundation contracted a company called Brilliance Biotechnology (亮采生物科技) to import eggs from Japan from March to May 2022, and then purchased Japanese eggs from Ultra Source (超思) from August to November of the same year.

Wu Yu-fei (吳諭非), a food company representative familiar with trade with Japan, coordinated the egg imports and specified Brilliance Biotechnology as the importer, before Chin Yu-chiao (秦語喬), his mother , founded Ultra Source to handle imports. said the Control Yuan.

Control Yuan’s report said the foundation contracted Ultra Source for imports before the company was officially registered, did not inspect the quantity or quality of imports, and completed contract documentation retroactively.

The report accused Ultra Source of defrauding the foundation of more than NT$100 million and said Brilliance Biotechnology inflated import charges by more than NT$10 million.

Last month, investigators searched 14 locations related to the case and questioned eight people, including employees of the companies, the foundation and the ministry.

After interrogation, Chin, Lin I-lung (林宜龍), director of Brilliance Biotechnology; Wu Chun-ta (吳俊達), then foundation specialist; and Lin Chang-hsien (林昌憲), an employee of Brilliance Biotechnology, were released on bail of NT$2 million, NT$1 million, NT$500,000 and NT$300,000 respectively.