Tsai Chen-chou

Tsai Chen-chou
MLY
蔡辰洲
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 1984 – 18 February 1985
ConstituencyTaipei
Personal details
Born(1946-09-13)13 September 1946
Died14 May 1987(1987-05-14) (aged 40)
NationalityRepublic of China
Political partyKuomintang
RelativesTsai Chen-nan (brother)
OccupationBusinessperson

Tsai Chen-chou (Chinese: 蔡辰洲; 13 September 1946 – 14 May 1987) was a Taiwanese politician and businessman.

He was the second son of Tsai Wan-chun [zh] and a member of the Tsai family of Miaoli.[1][2] The family was known outside of politics for its wealth. His brothers included Tsai Chen-nan, Tsai Chen-yang [zh], and Thomas Tsai [zh].

When the Tsai family chose to split their holdings in 1979, Tsai Chen-chou assumed control of Cathay Plastics Group.[3] Tsai Chen-chou also led the Tenth Credit Cooperative, which had previously belonged to his uncle Tsai Wan-lin.[4][5] He was elected to the Legislative Yuan as a Kuomintang representative of Taipei in December 1983. After taking office, Tsai Chen-chou and Wang Jin-pyng, among other legislators, founded the Thirteen Brotherhood Club.[6][7] This group sought to make revisions to the Banking Law so that investment trust companies could be transformed into banks.[8] A financial scandal [zh] broke in 1985, after bank runs had occurred at Tenth Credit Cooperative and Cathay Investment and Trust Company.[9] The club disbanded after Tsai was arrested and charged with fraud.[10] It was discovered that Tsai had acquired loans in other people's names, transferred deposits at Tenth Cooperative to CPG, and failed to pay wages to CGP employees.[11] Despite his affiliation with the ruling party, the Legislative Yuan voted to waive immunity and permit Tsai's arrest.[12] In March 1985, the magazine Thunder reported that Tsai had bribed Kuomintang officials to obtain a legislative nomination from the party.[13] Tsai was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges of fraud in April 1985.[9] Due to the extent of his actions, the longest possible sentence was 1,582 years.[2] Tangwai publications extensively covered the legal action against Tsai, alongside the murder of Henry Liu, inciting the Kuomintang to confiscate Tangwai publications.[14] Tsai Wan-lin gave Tsai Chen-chou a one-time $7.5 million loan over the course of the scandal, but would not help him further. Tsai Chen-chou died in prison in 1987, of liver disease.[1] Following the arrest of David Chou in 2003, the Taipei Times noted that Tsai and Huang Hsin-chieh were the only legislators to have been jailed during the authoritarian Kuomintang era.[15]

References

  1. ^ a b Huang, Annie (3 November 1988). "Taiwan's Rags-To-Riches Billionaire Shuns Publicity". Associated Press. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  2. ^ a b Chang, Kathy (13 May 1985). "Wealthy Family Entangled in Financial Scandal". Associated Press. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  3. ^ Quarterly Economic Review of Taiwan. Economist Intelligence Unit. 1984. p. 18.
  4. ^ Tsang, Steve (1999). Democratisation in Taiwan: Implications for China. Springer. p. 12. ISBN 9781349272792.
  5. ^ Liang, Fook Lye (2011). Political Parties, Party Systems and Democratisation in East Asia. World Scientific. p. 266. ISBN 9789814327954.
  6. ^ Wang, Chien-chuang (13 February 2002). "DPP needs its own Wang Jin-pyng". Taipei Times. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  7. ^ Baldwin, Robert E.; Chen, Tain-Jy; Nelson, Douglas R. (1995). Political Economy of U.S.-Taiwan Trade. University of Michigan Press. p. 27. ISBN 9780472105519.
  8. ^ Sato, Yukihito (September 2002). "Democratization and financial reform in Taiwan: the political economy of bad-loan creation". The Developing Economies. 40 (3): 235. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1049.2002.tb00914.x.
  9. ^ a b "Taiwan Bank Investigation". New York Times. Reuters. 6 May 1985. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  10. ^ Dittmer, Lowell; Fukui, Haruhiro; Lee, Peter N. S. (2000). Informal Politics in East Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780521645386.
  11. ^ Daily Report: People's Republic of China. National Technical Information Service. 1985. p. 48.
  12. ^ Lin, Jackie; Chen, Kevin (29 September 2004). "Tsai led family to dominate nation's finance business". Taipei Times. Retrieved 26 August 2018.
  13. ^ "Thunder magazine publisher sentenced in libel suit" (PDF). Taiwan Communiqué. 21: 20. August 1985. ISSN 1027-3999.
  14. ^ "Freedom of the press?" (PDF). Taiwan Communiqué. 20: 14. June 1985. ISSN 1027-3999.
  15. ^ "Editorial: Chou case no disgrace for the DPP". Taipei Times. 18 February 2003. Retrieved 26 August 2018.