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Diplomatic fraud suspect indicted, stays behind bars

Taipei Chief Prosecutor Huang Mo-hsin (黃謀信) yesterday indicted Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材), a key suspect in the Papua New Guinea diplomatic fraud scandal, on charges of falsifying bank statements and lying to the police after he made up a story about being threatened by an unidentified gunman.

“Prosecutors decided that the evidence was sufficient to find him guilty, so we decided to indict him today,” said Lin Chin-chun (林錦村), spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, during a press conference at 6pm.

Wu has been in custody since May 6. According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, prosecutors had until yesterday to decide to indict him or release him.

STILL LOCKED UP

The procedure also states that once indicted, the defendant must be immediately released, but Wu remained in detention after a request for an extension was granted by Taipei District Court Judge Chang Yung-hung (張永宏).

“Wu attempted to leave the country on April 27, so we have good reason to believe that he would try to escape again,” Chang said in a press release.

Wu and Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), the other main suspect in the diplomatic scandal, were commissioned in August 2006 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) to act as intermediaries in an attempt to forge diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea.

LOST MONEY

The ministry later agreed to wire US$29.8 million into Wu and Ching’s bank account at a branch of OCBC Bank in Singapore. The funds were to be transferred to the Papua New Guinea government once the two nations had signed a diplomatic communique.

The nations failed to develop relations and in December 2006 the ministry asked for its money back. Ching allegedly refused to return the funds and has since disappeared.

Chiou, former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳) and former deputy minister of national defense Ko Cheng-heng (柯承亨) all resigned over their involvement in the diplomatic scheme.

Ching, who is a US citizen, is believed to be at large in the US.
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