Former speaker of the Kaohsiung City Council Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) tops the list of the nation's 10 most wanted fugitives, the Cabinet announced yesterday. A cash reward of up to NT$10 million is being offered for information leading to the arrest of any of these fugitives, regardless of the informant's nationality.
Although even PRC citizens can come forward with information, the reward does not apply to judicial or martial prosecutors, police officers, law enforcement officers or domestic or foreign government officials investigating major criminal cases.
Despite the government's efforts, a Cabinet official who asked not to be named said that the list is politically motivated.
"If you closely study the list, you'll find that only two are wanted for undermining social security," the official said, insinuating that the remaining eight are involved in political cases.
The other people on the list are Wu Tse-yuan (伍澤元), a former member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and independent lawmaker, Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍), former chief cashier of the National Security Bureau, Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), a murder suspect, Eddie Liu (劉偉杰), an embezzlement suspect, Chen You-hao (陳由豪), former chairman of the Tuntex Group, Chang Wan-li (張萬利), former chairman of the Jin Wen Institute of Technology, Hsueh Chiu (薛球) and Chen Yi-hua (陳益華), kidnappers, and Chang Chao-chuan (張朝權), former Changhua County deputy commissioner.
Wu was convicted on corruption and fraud charges in 1996 for his involvement in the 1992 Sipiantou (
The Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation believes that its special agents have spotted Wu in Guangzhou, China.
Liu Kuan-chun is suspected of embezzling more than NT$192 million from the National Security Bureau. According to the Bureau of Investigation, he left Taiwan in September 2000 and went to Shanghai. He surfaced in Bangkok in January last year and then went to North America. Sources said that he is now in Canada.
Wang has been wanted since September 2000 in connection with the murder of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) in December 1993. He is suspected of having received a share of a secret commission for having played an instrumental role in securing the deal for a French company, Thomson CSF, now called Thales, to build six Lafayette frigates for Taiwan.
Eddie Liu allegedly embezzled NT$3 billion from Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law before he disappeared in August. Prosecutors believe Liu fled to Hong Kong after reportedly converting the stolen funds into diamonds.
Chen You-hao was indicted on charges of breach of trust. He reportedly left Taiwan for China last August. He was accused of stealing NT$800 million from the Tuntex Group's subsidiary Tunghua Development in 1995 and investing the money in China.
The Tuntex Group is one of the country's largest conglomerates, incorporating department stores, property development and construction. The group experienced a financial crisis in 1995 and 1996, which many attribute to the alleged theft.
Chang Wan-li was accused of embezzling money from the Jin Wen Institute before fleeing the country.
Hsueh Chiu (
Chang Chao-chuan had been charged with buying votes during the March 2000 presidential election before fleeing to Los Angeles.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,