Tsai Chen-chou

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 and a member of the Tsai family of Miaoli.[1][2] The family was known outside of politics for their wealth. His brothers included Tsai Chen-nan, Tsai Chen-yang, and Thomas Tsai.

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 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 of 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]