Leaders of a Taiwanese expatriate group in the US are expected to meet with fugitive Rebar Asia Pacific Group founder Wang You-theng (
Lee Ping-hsin (
TBAA President Lo Su-o (羅素娥), who is scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles today to prepare for the association's 30th annual meeting, will visit the Wangs at their residence in South Pasadena and invite them out for dinner, Lee said.
Lee further said that in addition to Lo and himself, chiefs of the TBAA's Las Vegas and Orange County chapters will also join the persuasion effort.
Wang, who had been held at an immigration holding center in San Pedro, California, since Feb. 2, was released on bail on Aug. 7.
Wang was detained when he tried to return to Los Angeles with both his Republic of China and Dominican Republic passports canceled, following a failed attempt to enter Singapore.
Wang is suspected of having embezzled billions of NT dollars in corporate funds from the group before fleeing with his wife, Wang Chin She-ying (
Taiwanese authorities placed the couple on the country's most-wanted list on Jan. 15 and have been seeking US assistance to have them repatriated to face charges.
In March, Taiwanese prosecutors indicted Wang and 106 others on a long list of charges related to the Rebar Group scandal, including fraud, money laundering and insider trading. They are seeking a prison sentence of 30 years and an unprecedented fine of NT$1.71 billion (US$52.13 million) for Wang.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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