Lee Bi-chun (李碧君), a key figure in the embezzlement allegations surrounding the first family, has been banned from leaving the country, a prosecutor said yesterday.
"Lee will be subpoenaed later, and the order restricting her from leaving the country is a measure to make sure future investigations proceed smoothly," said Eric Chen (陳瑞仁), a prosecutor at the Black Gold Investigation Center of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) has accused first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) of pocketing cash through reimbursements from fake expenditures, using receipts provided by Lee, a close friend of the first lady.
Chiu Yi said that some of the receipts Lee Bi-chun gave to Wu were from Lee Bi-chun's cousin, Ligi Lee (李慧芬), a Taiwanese fashion designer based in Australia, saying that the receipts were issued by the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Taipei.
The Chinese-language newspaper the United Daily News yesterday reported that Ligi Lee planned to return to Taiwan from Australia next week with documents proving that she had offered some receipts to Lee Bi-chun and the first lady.
"I will hold a press conference to declare that I have offered receipts for more than NT$7 million (US$213,000) to be reimbursed from the fund," the newspaper quoted Ligi Lee as saying.
Chen yesterday said that prosecutors would interview Ligi Lee if she were to return to the country.
Apart from the receipts from the Hyatt, Chiu also claimed that Lee Bi-chun had provided some receipts that had been issued by the Ambassador Hotel and Sogo Department Store, among others.
Ministry of Audit Spokesman Wang Yung-hsing (王永興) said the ministry had found that some copies of the receipts Chiu submitted to the ministry had been used to reimburse expenditures from the fund, and the ministry had sent these documents to the prosecutors.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it