The Taiwan High Court yesterday rejected an appeal filed by Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材), a suspect involved in a controversial diplomatic fraud scandal, for his release.
Wu was detained by the Taipei District Court on May 6 and held incommunicado after a three-and-a-half-hour review of the case regarding his suspected role as a middleman in the scandal in which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) was defrauded of US$29.8 million while seeking to forge official ties with Papua New Guinea in 2006.
grounds
The Taiwan High Court ruled that Wu be detained indefinitely on the grounds that Wu is suspected of having embezzled a huge amount of money that belonged to the government and people of Taiwan; that he had tried to go to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in an attempt to flee; that he might collude, if freed, with Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), a local businessman who holds a US passport and who is suspected of embezzling most of the US$30 million from a Singaporean bank account jointly held by the two men; and that the scandal has caused tremendous damage to Taiwan’s international image.
The funds were wired into the account by MOFA in September to be used as “technical aid” for Papua New Guinea in the hope of forging diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The scandal came to light on May 1 when a Singaporean newspaper reported that the Singapore High Court had approved Taiwan’s application for an injunction to freeze the joint bank account held by Ching and Wu.
The pair were commissioned to help Taiwan establish diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea in 2006.
The ministry wired US$30 million into their joint account in Singapore on Sept. 14, 2006, but the two brokers later disappeared, along with the funds.
detained
Taipei prosecutors detained Wu on May 6, although he claimed he had not received any money for his role in the failed diplomatic scheme.
The scandal led to the downfall of three senior officials of the former Democratic Progressive Party government — vice premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳) and deputy minister of national defense Ko Chen-heng (柯承亨) — all of whom resigned to take responsibility only two weeks before they were to finish their terms on Tuesday, when the new Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led government was inaugurated.
On May 12, local prosecutors listed Ching, who is believed to be hiding in the US, as one of the country’s most wanted fugitives as they continued their investigations into the case.
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
The Ministry of Culture yesterday officially launched the “We TAIWAN” cultural program on Osaka’s Nakanoshima sandbank, with the program’s mascot receiving overwhelming popularity. The cultural program, which runs from Aug. 2 to 20, was designed to partner with and capitalize on the 2025 World Expo that is being held in Osaka, Japan, from April 13 to Oct. 13, the ministry said. On the first day of the cultural program, its mascot, a green creature named “a-We,” proved to be extremely popular, as its merch was immediately in high demand. Long lines formed yesterday for the opening
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS