Fugitive Ho Hsiu-chen (何琇珍) — the ex-wife of a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Miaoli County official — who has been in the US for the past 17 years, was repatriated yesterday to face charges of corruption dating back to the 1990s.
It was the first time a fugitive was repatriated to Taiwan from the US since the two countries broke off diplomatic relations in 1979, and was the result of a successful collaboration between the Taiwanese and US departments of justice, officials said.
Ho was met upon landing on a flight from Los Angeles at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday morning by Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau officials, who read her her legal rights and placed her in handcuffs.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Ho was taken to the Miaoli District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning over her involvement in a public construction corruption case.
The bureau’s International Affairs Division section head Chu Cheng-sheng (朱正聲) said Ho’s repatriation was the successful result of bilateral cooperation between the bureau and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, repatriating a Taiwanese fugitive who had fled to US territory.
“We want to thank the US side for their assistance on this case. In the future, we will seek to bring back criminals who abscond to the US so they can face justice at home based on this collaboration framework,” Chu said.
Ho was the wife of Hsieh Kuei-lin (謝桂麟), former chief of Miaoli’s Gongguan Township (公館), and the couple — who were married at the time — were in 1994 accused of receiving NT$453,000 in bribes from contractors to secure contracts for road and sewer repair when Hsieh was the township’s mayor.
The couple were convicted on corruption charges in 1999, with Hsieh and Ho receiving jail terms of 14 years and 12 years respectively, but they fled the country to evade imprisonment.
Hsieh fled to Indonesia, but was arrested when he tried to return in 2006, serving five years in jail before being paroled and released in 2011.
Ho took a flight to US and entered on a tourist visa, where she remained for the past 17 years.
Ho was able to stay in US because of her “student” status, as she repeatedly enrolled to study in a doctoral program over 16 years at the University of the West in Rosemead, California.
Speaking to reporters in a separate setting, Hsieh declined to comment on Ho’s repatriation, saying that they have divorced and what happens to his ex-wife has nothing to do with him.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS