Semiconductor magnate faces prison for forgery

Jason Chang, chairman of Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (ASE), the world’s second largest microchip testing and packaging company, has been sentenced to six years in prison. He stood trial in the Taipei District Court with his mother, Chang Yao Hung-ying, on charges of falsifying documents connected with property transactions between 1989 and 1992. At the time he was president of Hung Ching Development, a privately-owned construction company controlled by the family. His mother, now in her eighties, was its chief executive. The family made its fortune from the Taiwanese construction industry during the eighties and nineties and used profits to set up ASE. Mr Chang and his mother were alleged to have traded land between 1989 and 1992, passing up to NT$1.7 billion (US$55 million) through bank accounts held by Hung Ching employees without their knowledge. They allegedly used forged paperwork to embezzle NT$186 million (US$5.7 million) from Hung Ching. Mr Chang is expected to appeal.