Taiwanese shipping company Evergreen has been under investigation for insider trading since July 2026 by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office and the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice. Ten locations connected to Evergreen Marine were searched, including the company’s offices and those of its subsidiary Evergreen International Corp, as well as the homes of members of the Chang family. The investigation began with a complaint filed in April 2024 by lawyer and shareholder Lin Wen-peng, who accused several group executives and their relatives of trading Evergreen Marine shares after allegedly gaining advance knowledge of the sale of the stake in Eva Airways.
Nine people were summoned for questioning, including three Evergreen Marine board directors: Chang Kuo-hua, eldest son of the group’s founder Chang Yung-fa, former long-serving executive Ko Li-ching and director Tai Ching-chuan. Deputy chief prosecutor Kao I-shu said the suspects also include Chang Kuo-hua’s brother, Chang Kuo-cheng, his wife Yang Mei-chen, his son Yang Sheng-en and executive Hsieh Shu-hui.
The case stems from the resolution adopted on 19 June 2023, when Evergreen Marine’s board of directors and internal control committee approved the sale of the stake in airline Eva Airways. According to prosecutors, on 30 June Chang Kuo-hua allegedly bought Evergreen Marine shares after the market had closed. Taiwanese sources report different volumes, ranging from more than 90m to 98m shares, out of a total of about 170m shares traded after hours that day. The disposal of the Eva Airways stake was disclosed to the market on 14 August and completed with a further disclosure on 21 August, for a consideration of T$13.35bn, or about €358m.
According to Taiwanese media reports, the transaction generated a capital gain of about T$6bn, or around €161m, for Evergreen Marine. After reviewing the trades, the Taiwan Stock Exchange concluded in a report that the transactions had allegedly taken place during the statutory blackout period, before the disclosure of price-sensitive information. On the basis of evidence gathered by investigators, the Taipei District Court authorised the search warrants executed on 6 July. The case forms part of the wider succession dispute within Evergreen Group following the death of founder Chang Yung-fa in 2016. The sale of the stake in Eva Airways was presented as part of a restructuring aimed at separating the conglomerate’s maritime activities from its aviation operations. The group also has interests in hotels and finance.
Chang Kuo-hua was released on 7 July on bail of T$120m, equivalent to about €3.2m, which was paid in just half an hour. The director was banned from leaving the country and from travelling by sea, ordered to report any change of residence and placed under electronic monitoring with a bracelet. Lower bail amounts were set for his brother Chang Kuo-cheng, at T$10m, or about €268,000; for his wife Yang Mei-chen and son Chang Sheng-en, at T$5m each, or about €134,000; and for director Tai Ching-chuan and executive Hsieh Shu-hui, at T$3m and T$2m respectively, or about €80,000 and €54,000. Ko Li-ching and two other people, the wife and son of Chang Kuo-cheng, were released without bail. Chang Kuo-hua denies the insider trading allegation.
His defence argues that the 30 June 2023 purchase was carried out through a block trade duly reported to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, and that the shares were never resold, a circumstance which, he says, rules out any actual realised profit. Evergreen Marine told the Taiwan Stock Exchange that it is cooperating fully with investigators and said the investigation had not had any significant impact on the continuity of its fleet or on the company’s financial position. The investigation is still at the preliminary stage, and no indictment has been filed.
Taiwan’s Insider Trading Law prohibits anyone who is aware of precise information that is relevant to the price of securities and has not yet been made public from trading shares in the company concerned, either on their own behalf or on behalf of third parties, until 18 hours after disclosure. The ban applies not only to directors and executives, but also to shareholders holding more than 10% of the capital, so-called "de facto insiders" who receive the information for professional reasons, former insiders for six months after losing that status, and "tippees", meaning those who receive the information from one of the previous categories. For information to be considered relevant under the rule, it must be precise, non-public, actually known to the person trading and capable of influencing the price of the securities or the decisions of a reasonable investor. The regulations of the Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission include major share disposals and significant direct or indirect investments among cases of material information, a category into which the disposal of the Eva Airways stake could fall.
The penalties for insider trading range from three to ten years in prison, with a fine of T$10m to T$200m, equivalent to about €270,000 to €5.4m. If the benefit obtained reaches at least T$100m, or around €2.7m, the minimum prison term rises to seven years and the fine ranges from T$25m to T$500m, or about €670,000 to €13.4m. Civil liability towards counterparties acting in good faith is also provided for, with compensation calculated on the difference between the price of the contested transaction and the average closing price over the ten trading days following disclosure. In the most serious cases, a judge may triple that amount.
In Evergreen’s case, the media and investigators refer to contested transactions worth about T$2.1bn, or around €56m. However, because Chang Kuo-hua and his family held the shares they had bought for two years without selling them, the paper benefit, or unrealised capital gain, generated by the rise in the value of the shares is now estimated at more than T$15bn, or about €400m.
M.L.
