A friend of US President Bill Clinton who was convicted in the US for involvement in illegal foreign donations to Clinton's Democratic Party was arrested on suspicion of blackmail on Tuesday, according to Taipei police.
Trie Yah-lin (崔亞琳) -- or Charlie Trie -- is suspected of blackmailing a religious group into paying him NT$5 million, police said.
The Criminal Investigation Bureau arrested Trie and four other suspects on Tuesday night in Peitou, Taipei City, while they were allegedly meeting the victim to take the money. The suspects were handed over yesterday to Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office, which must decide whether to formally to charge them.
Trie, 51, denied the accusation, claiming that the money the religious group, "Hui Hsing Shih Chi Foundation" (
Trie's wife was a member of the religious group. She died of cancer in 1998.
Trie told police that after his wife developed cancer in early 1998 the master of the foundation convinced her that only the Buddha could cure her illness. She then devoted herself to the affairs of the foundation, without seeking proper medical treatment, but died four months later.
The foundation tells a different story, however. Its staff reported Trie to the police, accusing him of threatening that unless the foundation paid him NT$8 million, he would tell the media that, under the guise of normal religious activity, the foundation was defrauding its followers.
One of those under arrest with Trie was Lin Hsing-bang (
The foundation was reported by police to have said that after negotiations the money demanded by the suspects was brought down to NT$5 million.
Police said that Trie, Lin, and the other two suspects were themselves volunteer workers for the foundation.
Trie had accused the founder and several members of the foundation of religious fraud. The CIB has recently launched an investigation into the matter.
Trie, a former restaurateur in Little Rock, Arkansas, a fund-raiser for the Democrats, and a close friend of Clinton, was accused by Congressional Republicans of moving illegal foreign contributions to the Democratic Party and Clinton's 1996 campaign.
After being interviewed by the prosecutor Trie was released on bail of NT$120,000 last night. The other four suspects were also released on bail.
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