Tycoon Wang Yu-yun (
On April 26, Wang, the former president of Chung Shing Commercial Bank (中興銀行), received a seven-year jail sentence on charges of abusing the bank's funds. He was found guilty of mismanaging bad loans valued at more than NT$80 billion (US$2.4 billion).
NOTICES
Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝) told reporters yesterday that twice last month the office had issued a notice to Wang ordering him to report to prosecutors and begin his prison sentence, but Wang did not show up.
Chung said prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Wang on Thursday, adding that if police failed to arrest him or if he did not give himself up in the next few days, prosecutors would place Wang on the wanted list.
Chung said Kaohsiung police have interviewed Wang family members and some of his business associates, adding that Wang was not believed to be in Kaohsiung.
Wang, a senior Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and Kaohsiung mayor from 1973 to 1981, was indicted in 2000 and has been prohibited from leaving the country since 2002.
CHINA
Prosecutors suspect Wang may have used a boat to flee to China, Chung said.
A report yesterday in the Chinese-language United Daily News said that Wang may be hiding in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, as he runs businesses there.
Chung said, however, that prosecutors were not privy to such information.
Financial officers said that Wang had transferred most of his assets and properties to China and other countries before facing prosecutors.
The judicial system has come under fire for allowing convicted criminals -- especially white-collar ones -- to roam freely.
Prosecutors argue it is difficult to supervise suspects and convicted criminals who have not been detained, a situation that is compounded by the fact that it is not difficult to flee to China by boat.
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