Excerpts from the 940-page indictment against a fugitive tycoon will be translated into English for delivery to the US in a drive to bring the suspect to justice, a Taipei prosecutor said yesterday.
Chuang Cheng (莊正), the head prosecutor in the Rebar Asia Pacific Group scandal, made the remarks after indicting the group's founder Wang You-theng (王又曾) for a spate of alleged financial crimes, including insider trading, embezzlement of corporate funds, accounting fraud and money laundering.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year prison sentence for Wang, as well as a record high fine of NT$1.71 billion (US$52.13 million).
Wang, who fled Taiwan before the investigation into the Rebar Group scandal began in January, has been held at an immigration detention center outside Los Angeles since Feb. 2, pending a decision by the US immigration court on whether to deport him back to Taiwan. Wang made his second appearance in immigration court on Wednesday.
Taiwan has tried in vain to persuade the US government to repatriate Wang so that the octogenarian can stand trial for a series of crimes he has allegedly committed during his long career.
In the wake of Wang's indictment, Chuang said the US government may reconsider Taiwan's request for Wang's repatriation as the accusations against him have become more convincing.
Moreover, the indictment accuses Wang of leading Rebar Group affiliates in large-scale money laundering over a lengthy period involving a sum well over NT$57 billion (about US$1.73 billion).
An additional US$147.05 million that the Wang family had allegedly raked in through other criminal operations was also listed in the indictment as evidence of the family's offshore money laundering activity.
Noting that money laundering has been a priority target in international efforts to combat crime, Chuang said the US has been very sensitive to the risks of money laundering since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York in 2001.
"If we can furnish US authorities with evidence of Wang's direct involvement in cross-border money laundering, it will be a valuable bargaining chip in securing Wang's return," Chuang said, adding that the English excerpts to be sent to the US will focus on Wang's supposed leading role in money laundering operations.
Also indicted in the case were Wang's wife -- Wang Chin She-ying (
Wang and his wife, who fled to China shortly before the scandals broke and later flew to the US, were put on a most wanted list on Jan. 15.
They left the US in late January for Myanmar via Singapore, but were forced to go back to the US after Singapore denied them entry at Taiwan's request. While his wife, with a valid US passport, managed to enter the US upon arrival on Feb. 2, Wang has since that time been held at the center in San Pedro in suburban Los Angeles.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods