Authorities in Nantou County yesterday uncovered a cache of counterfeit US banknotes with a non-existent US$1 million denomination.
Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau officials said the US government had helped in the investigation, because the printing technology for the greenbacks was so professional and sophisticated that banks and government agencies in Taiwan could not determine their authenticity.
The bills were found in the possession of a suspect surnamed Hsu (許). US authorities were alerted, and the US Secret Service said they were counterfeit, bureau Nantou County Office deputy director Lee Chin-shan (李金山) said.
Photo: Chen Feng-li, Taipei Times
US Secret Service officials said the US government has never issued US$1 million banknotes, while the paper used was the same as that used in the US$1 bill after 1963.
A sophisticated counterfeit ring likely altered US$1 bills to make the bogus US$1 million banknotes, which the professionals said look and feel just like real US bills.
The case came to light when Hsu, a businessman who ran a shoe manufacturing plant in China during the 1990s, made a donation with a US$1 million bill to a charity foundation in June last year.
Financial officers from the foundation tried to deposit the money at a Citibank branch in Taipei, who reported it to Citibank headquarters office in US, and were told it must be forged.
The bureau searched Hsu’s residence in Nantou County and found another 99 such banknotes in his house and contacted US authoritities.
Hsu insisted during questioning that the money was real, and had come from China.
“I set up a shoe manufacturing plant in China in the early 1990s, but I ended up with losses of more than NT$3 billion [US$92.75 million at todays exchange rate]. At a banquet given by the Chinese government, a high-ranking official gave me an envelope containing a total of 100 bills,” he said. “The official told me the money came on the instructions of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平). It was to cover my losses incurred in China. Later, I returned to Taiwan, and kept them at home for 20 years.”
Investigators said they doubted his story.
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