Tsai Chen-chou (; 13 September 1946 – 14 May 1987) was a Taiwanese politician and businessman. He was the second son of and a member of the Tsai family of Miaoli. The family was known outside of politics for its wealth. His brothers included

Tsai Chen-nan Tsai Chen-nan (; born 26 July 1954) is a Taiwanese actor and singer. Tsai was invited by the Hsinkang Foundation of Culture and Education to perform in Xingang, Chiayi, by the organization founder Chen Chin-huang, who sought to mitigate the ef ...

, , and . When the Tsai family chose to split their holdings in 1979, Tsai Chen-chou assumed control of Cathay Plastics Group. Tsai Chen-chou also led the Tenth Credit Cooperative, which had previously belonged to his uncle

Tsai Wan-lin Tsai Wan-lin (; 10 November 1924 – 27 September 2004) was a Taiwanese businessman who, at the peak of his wealth in 1996, was considered to be the fifth richest person in the world, with a family net worth of US$12.2 billion. At the time o ...

. He was elected to the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for 4-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a parallel ...

as a

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

representative of Taipei in December 1983. After taking office, Tsai Chen-chou and

Wang Jin-pyng Wang Jin-pyng (; born March 17, 1941) is a Taiwanese politician. He served as President of the Legislative Yuan from 1999 to 2016, which makes him Taiwan's longest-serving legislative speaker. Once a leading figure of the Kuomintang (KMT), Wang ...

, among other legislators, founded the Thirteen Brotherhood Club. This group sought to make revisions to the Banking Law so that investment trust companies could be transformed into banks. A broke in 1985, after bank runs had occurred at Tenth Credit Cooperative and Cathay Investment and Trust Company. The club disbanded after Tsai was arrested and charged with fraud. 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. Despite his affiliation with the ruling party, the

voted to waive immunity and permit Tsai's arrest. In March 1985, the magazine ''Thunder'' reported that Tsai had bribed Kuomintang officials to obtain a legislative nomination from the party. Tsai was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges of fraud in April 1985. Due to the extent of his actions, the longest possible sentence was 1,582 years.

Tangwai The ''Tangwai'' movement, or simply ''Tangwai'' (), was a loosely knit political movement in Taiwan in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Although the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) had allowed contested elections for a small number of seats in the Legi ...

publications extensively covered the legal action against Tsai, alongside the murder of

Henry Liu Henry Liu (; 7 December 1932 – 15 October 1984), often known by his pen name Chiang Nan (), was a Taiwanese-American writer and journalist. He was a vocal critic of the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party), then the single ruling party of th ...

, inciting the Kuomintang to confiscate Tangwai publications. 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. Following the arrest of

David Chou David Chou (; born 13 November 1954) is a Taiwanese politician. He served on the Taipei City Council from 1986 to 1993, when he was seated to the Legislative Yuan. Chou resigned in 2003, after being convicted on charges of bribery. He was senten ...

in 2003, the ''

Taipei Times The ''Taipei Times'' is the only printed daily English-language newspaper in Taiwan, and the third established there. Online competitors include the state-owned '' Focus Taiwan'' and '' Taiwan News''; '' The China Post'' was formerly a compe ...

'' noted that Tsai and

Huang Hsin-chieh Huang Hsin-chieh (; 20 August 1928 – 30 November 1999) was a Taiwanese politician, Taipei city council member, National Assembly representative, Legislative Yuan legislator, publisher of ''Formosa Magazine'' and Taiwan Political Theory magazi ...

were the only legislators to have been jailed during the authoritarian Kuomintang era.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsai, Chen-chou 1946 births 1987 deaths Taipei Members of the Legislative Yuan Kuomintang Members of the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Members of the 1st Legislative Yuan in Taiwan Tsai family of Miaoli 20th-century Taiwanese businesspeople Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Miaoli County Taiwanese business executives Taiwanese politicians convicted of fraud Taiwanese people who died in prison custody Prisoners who died in Taiwanese detention Taiwanese bankers