Another party involved in the scandal surrounding the purchases of the six French-made Lafayette-class frigates mysteriously died last month, the French newspaper Le Monde reported.
According to the paper, Jacques Morisson, a former French Thomson-CSF representative in Taipei, fell out of the window of his apartment June 4.
Although the police claimed that it was simply an accident, Morisson's death looks extremely suspicious, as he was the fifth French person involved in the Lafayette case who has died in an odd fashion.
Last October, Thierry Imbot, the son of a former French intelligence chief who was in Taipei from 1989-94 as a "special officer" of the French Institute in Taipei, died after he fell from a building in South Africa.
His death was said to be an accident.
Last March, Thomson Japan's general manager Jean-Claude Albessard also passed away under mysterious circumstances, as he died from a "sudden cancer."
According to Christine Deviers-Joncour, ex-mistress to former French foreign minister Roland Dumas, two other parties responsible for money laundering in the Lafayette case were killed in a mysterious car accident in South Africa.
The Lafayette case was linked to the French electronics firm Thomson-CSF after investigators had discovered that Thomson Taiwan's office manager Andrew Wang Chuan-pu (汪傳浦), Imbot, and Albessard had all left Taiwan immediately following navy captain Yin Ching-feng's (尹清楓) as yet unexplained murder on Dec. 8, 1993.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)