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Prosecutors launch investigation into Jimmy Wang `murder contract' case

Taipei prosecutors said yesterday they would launch an investigation following allegations by Hong Kong movie star Jimmy Wang (王羽) that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had asked him to assassinate former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Hsu Hsin-liang (許信良).

"Prosecutors could interview Jimmy Wang and other individuals involved to learn more about the matter," Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) told reporters yesterday, describing the case as an attempted homicide.

He said that prosecutors could bring Wang in for questioning if it were determined that he was involved in the case.

Quoting reports by the media, Lin said that a Taiwanese weapons dealer may also have some information about the matter and that prosecutors would attempt to get in touch with him.

In an interview published on Monday, Wang told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) that the KMT had asked him to assassinate Hsu, who was living in the US at the time.

Hsu fled to the US in 1979 during a security crackdown on Taiwanese independence advocates and lived there for 10 years.

He now lives in Taiwan.

The report quoted Wang as saying that then-director of the KMT's Mainland Affairs Department Bai Wan-hsiung (白萬祥) had contacted him to do the job.

It said Wang did not accept the job because Bai had not given him a written contract.

Bai died three years ago.

Wang issued a statement last night confirming the report.

Responding to the prosecutors' statement that he might be listed as a suspect, Wang said that as a long-term resident of Taiwan, he was willing to do what the law requires.
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