The Taipei District Court Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said former First Financial Holding Co chairman Jerome Chen (陳建隆) has been placed on the wanted list after failing to appear for an investigation in which he has been accused of forging documents to allow a female Chinese friend to enter Taiwan.
The prosecutors’ office said prosecutors had summoned him for questioning several times, but Chen failed to show up.
Prosecutors suspect he has stayed abroad and as result he has been placed on the wanted list, which could last until December 2034.
Chen’s wife is former minister of economic affairs Christine Tsung (宗才怡).
Prosecutors said Chen was suspected of writing over Tsung’s name when he filled in a household document and is believed to have used the full name of a Chinese woman, surnamed Huang (黃), instead.
Chen also allegedly obtained a fake Republic of China (ROC) passport for Huang, as well as a fake document from police authorities proving that Huang had no criminal record in Taiwan.
Prosecutors alleged that Chen represented Huang when she applied for citizenship of, and a passport from, Burkina Faso — a diplomatic ally of Taiwan.
Burkina Faso law stipulates that any ROC citizen who invests more than US$10,000 in the country can apply for citizenship, prosecutors said, adding that Chen’s purpose may have been to allow Huang to enter Taiwan with a passport from the African nation.
Police authorities have determined that the copies of the three documents used for the applications in Burkina Faso were fake, prosecutors said.
Local media have speculated that 38-year-old Huang is romantically involved with Chen.
Prosecutors added that it was suspicious Chen had been accompanied by a man called Lee Chih-yuan (李志元) whom Huang had paid US$44,000 when she made her application in Burkina Faso.
Prosecutors said Jerome Chen, Huang and Lee are all defendants in the case.
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.
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
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
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