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Fugitive arms broker and his family a no-show at kickback trial in Taipei

A fugitive arms broker and his family indicted on charges related to the Lafayette kickback case were absent from their trial at a Taipei court yesterday, legal sources said.

Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), the agent in Taiwan of French arms supplier Thompson-CSF (now Thales), his wife Yeh Hsiu-chen (葉秀貞) and their four children did not turn up for yesterday’s trial. The six were indicted by a special judicial panel in September 2006 on charges of collecting kickbacks as part of the deal that saw Taiwan purchase six Lafayette-class frigates from France in 1991.

Wang’s lawyer said Wang has no plans to return to Taiwan for now as he is ill and is also worried that his personal safety may be in jeopardy if he returns.

The other family members were absent because none of them were involved in the kickback case, he said.

Wang fled the country following the death of Navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) under suspicious circumstances in late 1993. Yin is believed to have been poised to blow the whistle on colleagues who allegedly received kickbacks from the Lafayette deal.

Wang has been listed as wanted on murder charges since September 2000.

Concluding a second-phase investigation into the arms procurement scandal in September 2006, the Taipei special judicial panel indicted Wang, his wife and their four children, as well as Kuo Li-heng (郭力恆), a former naval officer in charge of arms procurement, and his brother Kuo Wen-tien (郭問天) on charges of collecting kickbacks from the Lafayette deal.

The judicial panel also asked for a life sentence for Wang.

According to the 2006 indictment, the Wangs opened more than 60 bank accounts in Europe and Asia to launder US$520 million in illicit gains from the deal.

Wang had also transferred more than US$10 million in kickbacks to Kuo via several overseas banking accounts, the indictment stated.

Swiss authorities in June 2007 returned US$34 million to Taiwan in frozen bank deposits believed to be kickbacks connected to the purchase of the frigates in 1991.
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