A request to detain nine out of 11 people arrested in connection with the alleged counterfeiting of US dollars has been granted, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The eight men and one woman were arrested after Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀) turned over suspicious bills to investigators, who found the currency to be counterfeit.
The suspects have refused to reveal the name of the counterfeit ring’s mastermind or say whether a US dollar forgery production plant exists since being arrested at the end of last month, leading prosecutors to request their detention.
“We are still trying to track down the architect of the counterfeit money ring,” one prosecutor said.
The group early last month successfully exchanged US$2 million in forged World War II-era US$100 bills.
The forged banknotes avoided detection by bank clerks and fooled counterfeit money detectors, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported.
It was the first time a Taiwanese financial institution had been swindled out of a large sum of money through the use of counterfeit US dollar banknotes, the report said.
Banks are required to double-check with local authorities and the US when presented with old US dollar notes, but Mega Bank did not, the report said.
Investigators found that the suspects first exchanged small amounts of the counterfeit banknotes to make sure that banks did not detect the forgeries, before exchanging larger sums.
The money was evenly exchanged at two of Mega Bank’s branches in Taipei and then deposited into dummy bank accounts at other banks.
All of the money has been withdrawn and investigators suspect that some of the money has already been laundered and sent abroad.
Separately, Financial Supervisory Commission Chairperson Jennifer Wang (王儷玲) yesterday told lawmakers that a task force would be established to help banks improve their ability to detect counterfeit currency.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
RSS