President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) announcement of a re-launch of investigations into the mysterious 1993 murder of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) has proceeded with great momentum and fanfare over the past week, but whether the renewed probe will yield any concrete results still remains to be seen.
This week's renewed efforts were immediately met by infighting between the newly established investigation task force and the military. The two spent a majority of the week arguing over copies of cassette tapes which contain interviews with a key witness already convicted in the case.
While national dailies fueled the building debate over the "new clues" supposedly contained on the tapes, a careful review of the investigation over the past six years shows that what is now being touted as "new clues" are actually old ones.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Ex-Criminal Investigation Bureau director Yang Tze-chin (
Kuo made the confession on July 25 to People First Party lawmaker Lee Ching-hua (
"The pity is that a lot of clues are unavailable because several key witnesses left the country after the murder and cannot be contacted," Yang told the Taipei Times.
While he did not name them, Yang was referring to people like Andrew Wang (汪傳浦) and Tu Cheng Chun-chu (涂鄭春菊). Both have fled the country and now live abroad.
Yang also pointed to the importance of searching bank accounts of individuals suspected of involvement.
"The Yin murder is not an unsolvable case. The murder was a result of a weapons purchase scandal. We are confident we can crack this case as long as we can have access to data about cash flows in the bank accounts of all the suspects," he said.
"This is the biggest difficulty in the investigation. It is very difficult for Taiwan's legal authorities to investigate bank accounts of all the key witnesses who are abroad. As a matter of fact, evidence in this area has never been sought in the past," he added.
A military official, involved in the investigation of the murder for several years, said a crucial problem with the case was that investigators originally presumed Yin had drowned and not been murdered.
"The first week after a murder is the most important period for evidence gathering. But military investigators responsible for finding out the cause of Captain Yin's death missed that chance," said Colonel Yang Wen-hsien (楊文賢), deputy director of the discipline monitoring office of the Ministry of National Defense.
Yang, a member of a military investigation team formed specially for the Yin case, is the son of the country's former top coroner, Yang Jih-sung (
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS