Another suspect has fled the country amid an investigation into alleged fraud involving plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健) and his wife, Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), also known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Huang’s younger sister, Huang Chien-fang (黃千芳), who was the accountant at Ab Initio Medicina Clinic, is allegedly part of the NT$1 billion (US$32.4 million) operation, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors listed Huang Chien-fang as a suspect and issued an international wanted notice after discovering that she had departed, they said.
That brought to four the members of the Huang family listed as suspects in the case after Paul Huang and Su departed on a flight to the US on Nov. 30 last year with his father, Huang Li-hsiung (黃立雄), a physician at National Taiwan University Hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
On Jan. 5, the three drove to Canada, where they sought asylum. Paul Huang reportedly has permanent resident status in Canada, but his father and wife only had visitor visas.
Reports said that they were staying with relatives in Toronto.
The four are wanted fugitives for a period lasting 25 years and there is a reward of NT$750,000 for information leading to their arrest, prosecutors said, adding that work was under way with Canadian authorities to extradite them to Taiwan.
The National Immigration Agency sent documents to Canadian customs officials regarding the suspects, but it could be difficult to bring them back, as the two nations do not have an extradition treaty.
The case involved alleged fraud of investors and clients at the clinic, with operations allegedly continuing until it was shut down early last month after it was unable to pay debts.
Chinese-language news site Mirror Media yesterday reported that prosecutors were investigating two other men, a doctor surnamed Ko (柯), who was chief physician at the clinic, and a businessman surnamed Chu (朱), who was the clinic’s consultant.
Ko and Chu were the main investors in the clinic and they allegedly colluded in the fraud, Mirror Media reported.
Accounting records showed that the two men had for the past few years received regular salaries and money derived from high-interest loans to the clinic, the report said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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