Prosecutors yesterday were granted an arrest warrant for former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) over his alleged involvement in a bribery scandal.
The Taipei District Prosecutor's Office had applied to the Taipei District Court for permission to detain Chen so that he could be questioned along with convicted embezzler Liang Po-hsun (
The Taipei District Court announced at 10:30pm that it had granted the prosecutors' request.
Liang, who had fled to China in 2004 after being found guilty of embezzling funds from the Overseas Chinese Bank, returned to the country last Saturday. He was arrested on his arrival at CKS International Airport.
Liang had told reporters before his arrival that he would return to Taiwan to accuse Chen of embezzling NT$7.11 million (US$222,188) that Liang had allegedly given him to bribe the judges presiding over his own embezzlement case.
"Chen is being charged with fraud, and he might conspire to coordinate his testimony with those of other suspects in the case if he were allowed to leave the court," Taipei District Prosecutor's Office spokesman Lin Pang-liang (林邦樑) said yesterday.
Liang, the former chairman of the Hsinchiehchung Construction Company and a board director of the Overseas Chinese Bank, was sentenced to one year in prison for embezzling NT$5.3 billion from the bank, and was sentenced to a further 14 months in prison for forging his construction company's contracts.
He fled to China in June 2004.
Last month, Liang made the accusations against Chen and said that he had decided to return to Taiwan.
He told Taiwanese reporters based in China that Chen had received NT$12 million, with which Chen allegedly claimed he could bribe the judges in Liang's trial.
Chen, who has denied that he received any money from Liang, has been indicted for his alleged involvement in the corruption scandal surrounding the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique