Employees at Hsinchu Chemical Company Steal Cobalt Metal; 1 Indicted, 2 Wanted
Three employees at a chemical company in Hukou, Hsinchu County, stole over 60,000 kg of cobalt metal worth NT$63.27 million. One was indicted, two are wanted, and a manager was indicted for falsifying inventory records to cover it up.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 14:39
- 🔍 Collected: April 22, 2026 at 15:02 (22 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 16:54 (25h 52m after Collected)
Central News Agency
(Central News Agency reporter Kuo Hsuan-ti, Hsinchu County, 22nd) Three employees of a chemical company in Hukou, Hsinchu County, allegedly took advantage of night shifts and security camera blind spots to steal over 60,000 kilograms of cobalt metal raw materials, valued at over NT$63.27 million. The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office indicted a technician surnamed Chen for theft and issued arrest warrants for two other fugitives.
The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office provided press materials today stating that a technician surnamed Chen, a foreman surnamed Liu, and a technician surnamed Zhu, being familiar with internal factory processes, used night shifts and surveillance camera blind spots since September 2024 to repackage cobalt metal raw materials. They then transported the materials to the parking lot, drove them away, and sold them.
Prosecutors stated that the three men successively stole a total of approximately 62,640 kilograms of cobalt metal raw materials, worth roughly NT$63.27 million.
Prosecutors pointed out that a deputy manager surnamed Zhang, who was responsible for the cobalt sulfate production process and inventory verification, knew about the inventory discrepancy in the cobalt metal. However, to control the loss data, he arbitrarily recalculated and altered the inventory records, including the liquid level heights of each tank, cobalt content, and weight data.
Prosecutors said Zhang provided the altered version to the company's finance and accounting department, causing the company to long mistakenly believe that the actual inventory matched the accounting records. This damaged the accuracy of the company's inventory management and financial controls, resulting in a discrepancy of up to 91,826 kilograms.
The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office stated today that the investigation has concluded. The technician surnamed Chen has been indicted, and arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining two fugitives (foreman Liu and technician Zhu). Regarding the deputy manager Zhang, he was indicted for the crime of exercising forged business documents. (Editor: Chang Ming-kun) 1150422
(Central News Agency reporter Kuo Hsuan-ti, Hsinchu County, 22nd) Three employees of a chemical company in Hukou, Hsinchu County, allegedly took advantage of night shifts and security camera blind spots to steal over 60,000 kilograms of cobalt metal raw materials, valued at over NT$63.27 million. The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office indicted a technician surnamed Chen for theft and issued arrest warrants for two other fugitives.
The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office provided press materials today stating that a technician surnamed Chen, a foreman surnamed Liu, and a technician surnamed Zhu, being familiar with internal factory processes, used night shifts and surveillance camera blind spots since September 2024 to repackage cobalt metal raw materials. They then transported the materials to the parking lot, drove them away, and sold them.
Prosecutors stated that the three men successively stole a total of approximately 62,640 kilograms of cobalt metal raw materials, worth roughly NT$63.27 million.
Prosecutors pointed out that a deputy manager surnamed Zhang, who was responsible for the cobalt sulfate production process and inventory verification, knew about the inventory discrepancy in the cobalt metal. However, to control the loss data, he arbitrarily recalculated and altered the inventory records, including the liquid level heights of each tank, cobalt content, and weight data.
Prosecutors said Zhang provided the altered version to the company's finance and accounting department, causing the company to long mistakenly believe that the actual inventory matched the accounting records. This damaged the accuracy of the company's inventory management and financial controls, resulting in a discrepancy of up to 91,826 kilograms.
The Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office stated today that the investigation has concluded. The technician surnamed Chen has been indicted, and arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining two fugitives (foreman Liu and technician Zhu). Regarding the deputy manager Zhang, he was indicted for the crime of exercising forged business documents. (Editor: Chang Ming-kun) 1150422