Author notes that testimony in Lester Millet Jr.'s federal extortion trial on charges stemming from Formosa's proposed rayon plant have called into question the real reason the company cancelled its plans. Initially Formosa cited permitting delays, potential problems with materials, and a neighboring lawsuit; however, Lionel Bailey in recent testimony blamed Millet. An Oct. 1992 letter from B. J. Wynne, at the time a regional administrator with the EPA, to Formosa chief Susan Wang suggested that both Andre and Formosa were to blame. Notes that Formosa purchased land that includes Whitney Plantation for $7.5 million in 1990, and that Millet accused of orchestrating the land purchas to gain part of a $480,000 commission. Bailey claims that company cancelled the project because FBI was investigating Millet's role and Andre didn't want his company's repuation soiled by the implications, though a Formosa spokesman denies his charges and disputes recriminations in Wynne's letter.
Critical Commentary
Author notes that testimony in Lester Millet Jr.'s federal extortion trial on charges stemming from Formosa's proposed rayon plant have called into question the real reason the company cancelled its plans. Initially Formosa cited permitting delays, potential problems with materials, and a neighboring lawsuit; however, Lionel Bailey in recent testimony blamed Millet. An Oct. 1992 letter from B. J. Wynne, at the time a regional administrator with the EPA, to Formosa chief Susan Wang suggested that both Andre and Formosa were to blame. Notes that Formosa purchased land that includes Whitney Plantation for $7.5 million in 1990, and that Millet accused of orchestrating the land purchas to gain part of a $480,000 commission. Bailey claims that company cancelled the project because FBI was investigating Millet's role and Andre didn't want his company's repuation soiled by the implications, though a Formosa spokesman denies his charges and disputes recriminations in Wynne's letter.