Justice officials said yesterday they were seeking a judicial cooperation deal with Switzerland, similar to an agreement Taiwan has already signed with the US, after the Swiss authorities agreed to freeze the bank account of a Taiwanese fugitive.
"This is a good start," said a senior official, who wished to remain anonymous, at the Ministry of Justice's Department of Corrections. "However, our goal is to sign an agreement with them, just like we did with the US last year."
In March last year, the ministry signed the Agreement on Criminal Justice Cooperation with the US Department of Justice.
The agreement allows Taiwanese and US law enforcement officers to cooperate in tracking down criminals, especially in cases involving drugs.
The head of the ministry's Bureau of Investigation Drug Enforcement Center, Wang Han-jou (
"Among them, the US is the only country which has an official agreement with us," Wang said. "But, officially and unofficially, we still work with many other countries to crack down on criminals no matter whether we have diplomatic ties with them or not."
According to Chinese-language media yesterday, Swiss Judge Paul Berraudin decided to freeze US$600 million in a Swiss bank account operated by Andrew Wang (
Wang is suspected of involvement in the murder of former navy captain Yin Ching-feng (
Yin was the former head of the navy's Arms Acquisition Office. His body was found floating in the sea off the east coast of Taiwan on Dec. 9, 1993. His death prompted an investigation into irregularities surrounding the purchase of Lafayette-class frigates from France. Investigators believe that the deal included more than US$500 million in illegal commissions.
Investigators discovered that Yin was trying to collect evidence to protect himself once the scandal surfaced and that he might have been killed by the main beneficiaries of the kickbacks.
Wang has been on the run since September 2000. He is suspected of having received a share of the illegal proceeds for playing an instrumental role in securing a deal for Thomson CSF, a French company now called Thales, to build six Lafayette frigates for Taiwan.
According to the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, requests to freeze all bank accounts which may be connected to the scandal were made by both the Taiwanese and French law enforcement authorities on Nov. 6 and Nov. 7, 2001.
Wang has 30 days to appeal.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)