An anonymous tipster, whose information led to the arrest of notorious gangster Hu Guan-bao (胡關寶) 14 years ago, yesterday complained that he did not receive the NT$10 million reward that he was promised.
The case involved the kidnapping of Taishin Financial Holding Co Chairman Eric Wu (吳東亮). Hu and his associates kidnapped Wu in 1990 and demanded NT$100 million from his family. Wu was released on Dec. 18, 1990, after his family paid the ransom. The tipster, who is only identified by his surname Huang, informed police as to the whereabouts of Hu and his fellow kidnappers. Police arrested Hu and his gang in Christmas Day the same year.
Yesterday, Huang contacted local Chinese-language media and told them the Wu family had promised a NT$10 million reward to whoever provided useful information that led to the arrest of the kidnappers, but he never received the money. Huang also told the media he thinks the police confiscated the money. Police and the Wu family denied such a reward was ever offered.
"For the case, we did provide a NT$1 million reward to a tipster who helped us arrest the suspects. That money has been delivered and everything is on our records," said Kao Cheng-sheng (高政昇), deputy commissioner of the National Police Agency's Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB). "We never offered a reward as high as NT$10 million and neither did the Wu family," Kao said.
Former National Police Agency director-general Chuang Heng-dai (莊亨岱) and former CIB commissioner Lu Yu-jun (盧毓鈞) -- who were involved in the 1990 case, also said that they never heard of a NT$10 million offered by the Wu family.
Hu was sentenced to death and executed immediately after his conviction. In addition to kidnapping Wu, he also murdered two military guards in Hsinchu and was the first gangster in Taiwan who possessed a bachelor's degree.
After Hu was arrest, he denied all the allegations and refused to confess during police interrogation.
But current CIB Commissioner Hou You-yi (侯友宜) successfully talked Hu into confessing to the crimes and divulge the location of a rifle, which served as a key piece of evidence during his trial. Six months later, the police found the evidence at a location in the middle of nowhere in Hsintien after Hu pointed it out for authorities.
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