A Hsinchu County election candidate's family is accused of hiding development profits inside a farmland sale to dodge more than NT$100 million in tax, a damaging turn for both the candidate and Inventec's chairman.

• Cheng Chao-fang, running for Hsinchu County magistrate, and his relatives sold hillside farmland to companies tied to Inventec chairman Yeh Li-cheng.
• The complaint says the land went for about NT$89,000 per ping, while a neighbouring owner sold similar land to the same buyer for under NT$2,000 per ping — a gap of more than 40 times.
• The claim is that roughly NT$180 million of development profit was buried in the land price, since land sale gains are taxed far more lightly than ordinary income.
• Five people, including the family members, Yeh, and the land agent who handled the transfer, were reported to Taipei prosecutors for tax evasion and document forgery.
• The same material is going to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, which will be asked to demand an explanation from Inventec.

Outlook: Prosecutors will decide whether to open an investigation into the money trail, and the case is likely to shadow Cheng's campaign through the local election season.