Former Chinatrust Financial Holding Co (中信金控) vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) returned to Taiwan yesterday after being on the run for almost two years. He was immediately handcuffed and escorted to the Supreme Prosecutor Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) for questioning.
All investigations involving Koo, who returned to Taiwan from Japan on his private plane around 9:45am, will now be handled by the SIP, a chief investigator said.
SIP spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said that after talking to State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明), it was decided that the probes, including one into Koo’s suspected role in a questionable financial deal and another into his possible role in alleged corruption involving the former first family, would be handled by the SIP.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Koo has been on the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office wanted list since December 2006 after twice failing to appear to answer questions regarding his role in Chinatrust Financial’s investment in Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) through its Hong Kong branch.
Chen Yun-nan said that Koo had “turned himself in voluntarily” as a defendant, which meant he had to be handcuffed in accordance with legal procedure.
The SIP spokesman denied that there had been any “under the table deal” facilitating Koo’s return from Japan.
“We did not make any deal with him,” Chen Yun-nan said. “He decided to come back to help us.”
Prosecutors were also anxious to talk to Koo about the sale of a piece of land in Taoyuan County owned by a development company controlled by Koo and his family, through which former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), is alleged to have received NT$400 million (US$12 million) in kickbacks.
Jeffrey Koo Jr’s alleged involvement in the deal came to light on Nov. 14, when Taiwan Cement Corp (台泥) chairman Leslie Koo (辜成允), his uncle, told prosecutors that his nephew had introduced him to the former first lady’s friend Tsai Ming-cher (蔡明哲), who instructed Leslie Koo on where to wire a NT$400 million “commission” on the land purchase.
At press time yesterday, prosecutors were still questioning Jeffrey Koo Jr.
His father, Chinatrust Financial chairman Jeffrey Koo (辜濂松), was summoned late last month as a witness over the firm’s suspected role in the case against the former first family.
SIP prosecutors yesterday also questioned former vice premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) and former presidential aide Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓).
After Lin Hsin-yi left, prosecutors applied to release Lin Teh-hsun on NT$200,000 bail, a request that was immediately granted by the Taipei District Court.
The court barred Lin Teh-hsun, who had been in detention since Oct. 3, from moving house or leaving the country.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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