TAIPEI (TVBS News) — A Taiwanese banking scion under an eight-month travel restriction has received rare court permission to visit China after posting an enormous bail. The Taipei District Court (台北地方法院), Taiwan's lower criminal court, ruled Wednesday (June 5) that Jeffrey Koo Jr. (辜仲諒), chairman of the Chinatrust Banking Corporation (CTBC, 中國信託) Charity Foundation (中國信託慈善基金會), may travel to mainland China for three days after securing his temporary freedom with NT$150 million (approximately US$5 million) in bail money. The court approved his attendance at a Chinese Baseball Association (中國棒球協會) work report focusing on upcoming baseball events.
The controversial banking executive petitioned for the travel exemption citing his high-profile roles in international baseball governance, where he serves as president of the Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA, 亞洲棒球總會) and executive vice president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC, 世界棒壘球總會). Court documents revealed Koo's stated intention to participate in critical planning meetings for two major regional sporting events: the BFA Asian Baseball Championship and the Women's Baseball Asian Cup, both significant competitions in Asia's baseball calendar.
Chinese sports authorities factored prominently in the court's deliberations, with the Shanghai Sports Bureau (上海市體育局), the municipal government department overseeing sports development in China's financial hub, having formally invited Koo to participate in strategic discussions about baseball development and cross-strait sporting cooperation. The invitation also included observing the 2025 PONY Asia-Pacific youth baseball tournament hosted in Shanghai. Despite granting the China trip, judicial authorities maintained some restrictions by denying Koo's additional request to travel to Tokyo between June 7 and 10 for meetings with Japanese baseball associations where he had sought to secure support for regional initiatives.
The judicial ruling hinged significantly on formal assurances presented to the court, including official invitation letters and a personal guarantee from Cheng Shih-Chung (鄭世忠), the director-general of Taiwan's Ministry of Education's Sports Administration (MOEASA, 教育部體育署), the government body responsible for sports policy on the island. Cheng's guarantee specifically vouched for Koo's commitment to return promptly to Taiwan following the brief China visit. The court's leniency comes despite its May ruling that sentenced Koo to seven years and eight months imprisonment for serious violations of The Banking Act (銀行法), a conviction that also triggered an automatic eight-month prohibition on international travel. ◼