TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prosecutors plan to seize NT$880 million (US$28.47 million) in profits from China’s VeriSilicon Holdings Co., Ltd. as it allegedly operated illegally in Taiwan, reports said Tuesday (Sept. 13).

The Shanghai-based chip designer never filed an application with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Investment Commission to operate in Taiwan, but used its Hong Kong affiliate to launch its business in 2014, according to the Shilin District Prosecutors Office.

An investigation found that the company in Taiwan needed to receive approval for its financial, operations, and personnel policies from headquarters in Shanghai, CNA reported. Production data had to be reported to China, and Shanghai also had to review and give its approval for all chip design deals before they could go ahead.

Prosecutors said there was sufficient evidence to show VeriSilicon had broken laws regulating the operations of Chinese companies in Taiwan. They added they were charging the manager of the company’s Taiwan office, a man named Chan (詹), and listed VeriSilicon founder Wayne Dai (戴偉民), a United States citizen, as a wanted person. They also planned to seize NT$880 million in profits made from the launch of the Taiwan office from 2014 to 2021, the report said.