Official from Taiwan's Acer held over alleged insider trading

An official from Taiwanese computer maker Acer was formally detained Wednesday on insider trading charges, a day after prosecutors searched the firm's headquarters, AFP reports. The prosecutors along with intelligence officers on Tuesday raided 14 different locations including Acer's headquarters north of Taipei. They detained for questioning Acer's acting spokesman, a human resources division manager and six other people not from the company. After an initial investigation, the Acer acting spokesman and a stockbroker not employed by the firm were taken into custody while the others were released on bail. "The two were held on grave suspicions of insider trading, and if released, they might collude and destroy evidence (against them)," prosecutor Feng Cheng told reporters. The struggling computer maker took a beating on the Taiwan stock exchange Wednesday, with its share price shedding 1.92 percent. Local media said the alleged insider trading may have taken place after the company reported a worse-than-expected third-quarter loss of Tw$13.1 billion ($442.2 million) last year. Senior executives have taken voluntary salary cuts of 30 percent since January as the company struggles financially. Acer has set up a business restructuring group led by founder Stan Shih, who also returned as chairman late last year and aims to revive the company by targeting cloud-computing services. Shih founded Acer in 1976. He built it into the world's second largest PC maker in its heyday, and one of the best known Taiwanese brands internationally, before retiring in 2004. But Acer's fortunes have worsened in recent years as sales have been hit by competition from Apple and other rivals.