A Taiwanese man surnamed Lee used a woman friend surnamed Chou as matchmaker in Vietnam. In the process, he was charged more than NT$200,000 for introduction and handling fees for the matrimony. A month later Lee eagerly went to Vietnam to register the marriage, but the woman he was supposed to marry rejected him. Lee, quite perturbed, decided to sue Chou for fraud. During a preliminary hearing the public prosecutor said that since Chou never accepted money from Lee and it would be difficult to prove Lee’s accusations because subpoenaing witnesses from Vietnam was not feasible, the charges against Chou could not be upheld.
Lee says that Chou, a 40-year-old Vietnamese national, introduced him to her aunt as a go-between. Lee and Chou took a flight together to Vietnam on Nov. 20 last year. After meeting Lee, Chou’s aunt felt no sparks between them, so Chou’s younger brother and his wife arranged for Lee to meet another woman, surnamed Mei, to see if they were compatible. Apparently they were satisfied with one another and immediately began planning the marriage locally. Apart from inviting a large number of guests for the wedding reception, Lee also bought Mei a lot of jewelry, spending a total of NT$220,000. They planned to return to Vietnam a month later to complete the marriage registration process. Mei said she had other business to attend to and did not return to Taiwan with them.
Lee went back to Vietnam on Dec. 27 last year to register his marriage with Mei, who refused to marry him and would not return the jewelry that he had given her. Lee felt that he had been tricked and filed a lawsuit against Chou and Mei for fraudulent behavior after returning to Taiwan.
The public prosecutor found that Chou would only admit that she had introduced Lee to her aunt, and denied introducing him to Mei. Chou also said that she never accepted money from him for making the introduction. The veracity of Lee’s accusations could not be upheld in court because it was impossible to subpoena Mei or any of the people responsible for arranging the marriage in Vietnam to appear in court to explain.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
李姓男子透過周姓女友人介紹到越南相親,前後花了二十幾萬元支付介紹費及辦理結婚相關事宜。不料一個月後,興沖沖地到越南要辦理結婚登記,女子竟拒絕結婚,李男怒控周女詐欺,檢察官偵訊後,以周女未向李男收費,加上無法傳喚越南相關證人,難以證明李男指控,不予起訴。
李男指稱,透過越南籍周姓女子(四十歲)居中牽線,介紹周女姑姑相親,兩人並於去年十一月二十日搭機到越南,但和周女姑姑見面後,感覺「不來電」,周女的弟弟和弟媳於是另外介紹梅姓女子「對看」,覺得很滿意,立刻在當地籌辦結婚事宜,除了訂喜宴廣邀賓客外,還買首飾給梅女,前後花了二十二萬元,雙方約定一個月後再到越南補辦結婚登記手續,梅女則以還有事情要處理,未隨同返台。
去年十二月月二十七日,李男再度前往越南,準備和梅女辦結婚登記,但梅女不但不願結婚,也拒絕償還之前接受的首飾,李男覺得受騙,返國後告周女和梅女共同詐欺。
檢察官調查發現,周女只承認介紹姑姑給李男,但否認介紹梅女,也未向李男收介紹費,再加上無法傳喚越籍梅姓女子及代辦結婚之人到庭說明,難以證明李男指控內容為真實。
(自由時報記者黃文鍠)
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