Kaohsiung Prosecutor Chen Chien-ho (陳建和) issued an arrest warrant for former Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) yesterday, warning that Chu will be listed as a wanted person if he does not show up before 3pm Monday.
"We gave him another chance but he still did not come to us. So we had to issue a [three-day] warrant," said Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Chou Chang-chin (
Chu was convicted last month of vote-buying and given a 22-month prison sentence. He was supposed to report to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office by 3pm on Thursday to begin serving his sentence.
The prosecutors' office gave Chu a "12-hour mercy period" after his wife Wu Te-mei (
Wu reportedly assured Chen that her husband was still in the country and would give himself up soon.
Chou refused to provide further details of the phone call between Wu and Chen or respond to questions about why Chen would have agreed to delaying a warrant based upon one phone conversation.
"I think Chu was merely trying to buy himself some time [referring to Chu's no-show and Wu's phone call]," said Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南). "But he eventually has to face his problems."
As of press time yesterday, Chu's whereabouts remained unknown.
There has been intense media speculation in the past week that Chu had fled to Shanghai, but law enforcement officials have remained mum on the rumors.
During a press conference yesterday, National Police Administration Director-General Chang Si-liang (
"We have no idea of his whereabouts but we will try our best to track him down," he said.
However, when asked what the authorities could do if Chu turns up in Shanghai, neither Chang nor Chen Ding-nan would comment.
Meanwhile, the police announced yesterday that Wu has also disappeared.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS