Taipei prosecutors yesterday announced that tycoon Wang Yu-yun (王玉雲) had been placed on the nation's wanted list after he failed to show up to begin his seven-year prison term.
"Wang has been placed on Taiwan's wanted list," Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) said yesterday.
On April 26, Wang, the former president of Chung Shing Commercial Bank (中興銀行), received a seven-year jail sentence after being convicted of misusing the bank's funds. He was found guilty of mismanaging bad loans valued at more than NT$80 billion (US$2.4 billion).
Prosecutors issued a notice to Wang last month ordering him to report for his incarceration, but Wang failed to show up at the proper time yesterday.
Wang, a senior Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and Kaohsiung mayor from 1973 to 1981, was indicted in 2000 and has been prohibited from leaving the country since 2002.
Financial officers said that Wang had transferred most of his assets to China and other countries before facing prosecutors.
Lin said yesterday that Wang likely had fled to China after he was sentenced in April.
Prosecutors suspect Wang may have fled to China by boat.
The judicial system has come under fire for allowing convicted criminals -- especially white-collar ones -- to roam freely.
Minister of Justice Morley Shih (施茂林) said that agents from the ministry's Investigation Bureau who were in charge of monitoring Wang would be held responsible for his failure to appear for incarceration.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
RSS