Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材) was given a final sentence of three years and 10 months in prison yesterday by the Taiwan High Court, for his role in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) diplomatic fraud scandal
The ruling said Wu and Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), the other prime suspect in the case, were commissioned in August 2006 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former National Security Council -secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) to act as intermediaries in an attempt to establish diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea.
The ministry later agreed to wire US$29.8 million to a bank account opened by Wu and -Ching at an OCBC Bank branch in Singapore. The funds were to be transferred to the Papua New Guinea government once the two nations had signed a diplomatic communique.
The ruling said that following the failure of the attempt to establish diplomatic relations in December 2006, the ministry asked for the money back. However, -Ching allegedly refused to return the funds and has since disappeared.
After returning to Taiwan, Wu falsified bank statements and claimed an unidentified gunman had told him to keep quiet about the case and leave Taiwan as soon as possible, the ruling said.
In a previous ruling, Wu, who was charged with forgery and defamation, had been sentenced to three years and four months in prison by the Taipei District Court, which said that his actions had seriously harmed Taiwan. Chiou, former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳) and former deputy minister of national defense Ko Cheng-heng (柯承亨) all resigned over their alleged involvement in the diplomatic scheme.
Prosecutors have said they are still investigating whether Chiou and Huang were involved in any further wrongdoing.
Ching, who is a US citizen, is believed to be at large in California.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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