Jan
14
Businessman was wrongfully imprisoned: book
Filed Under CH
Businessman Wu Chen-jui (吳振瑞) was a victim of politically motivated persecution and wrongful imprisonment, according to a book released on Tuesday by the Pingtung County Government.
Wu, who died in 1993, was a Pingtung native and a former superintendent of the Kaohsiung Fruit Cooperative. He was known for ushering in a period of prosperity for southern fruit planters by exporting bananas to Japan.
In 1969, Wu was accused of corruption for allegedly distributing gold bowls and plates in the so-called “gold bowls” case, and in a second trial was convicted on illegal gold trading charges.
The book The Banana Man: Wu Chen-jui and the Golden Bowl Case (金蕉傳奇：香蕉大王吳振瑞與金碗案的故事), was published by the county thanks to an endowment from the Preparatory Office of the National Human Rights Museum. Written by oral historian Huang Hsu-chu (黃旭初), the book said that the gold bowls case was a miscarriage of justice motivated by political enmity.
“Wu Chen-jui made powerful enemies in the then-Provincial Fruit Export Cooperative by pushing the ‘50-50 plan’ and breaking its monopoly over export license quotas, and those powerful enemies took revenge on him by using trumped-up charges,” said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), who hosted the book’s launch.
Chiu said it was important for her to help clear Wu Chen-jui’s name, as he was made the superintendent of the fruit cooperative’s Kaohsiung branch on her grandfather Chiu Ching-te’s (邱慶德) recommendation. Chiu Ching-te was a Pingtung mayoral candidate at the time.
“There is no doubt that the ‘banana-peeling’ case was politically motivated,” Pingtung County Cultural Affairs Department Director-General Wu Jin-fa said (吳景發), referring to the media’s rhetoric at the time alleging that the prosecutors were “peeling” the banana trade to get rid of “verminous insects.”
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