AP, WELLINGTON
A former pharmaceutical executive whom Chinese authorities accuse of embezzling money and fleeing to New Zealand has settled his case for US$31 million, New Zealand police said yesterday, in a deal that represents an unusual level of cooperation between the two countries.
William Yan (閻永明), a New Zealand citizen, settled without acknowledging any criminal or civil liability, the police said in a statement.
Police had previously seized homes, luxury cars, including a Porsche and a Maserati, and stocks from the 47-year-old Yan, his wife and two associates, the statement said.
Police said they would release those items once Yan and the others handed over NZ$43 million (US$31.47 million).
Police said the money would then be split between the New Zealand and Chinese governments, with the amount each would get still to be determined.
New Zealand authorities refused to answer further questions about the case, including whether China would attempt to extradite Yan.
China’s embassy in Wellington did not immediately respond to questions.
The settlement is the largest of its kind ever made in New Zealand, and the first for crimes alleged to have occurred in China.
Critics say it raises questions about why Yan is not facing charges and how much New Zealand is acquiescing to Beijing’s demands.
China represents a crucial market for New Zealand’s agricultural exports, which include kiwifruit and dairy products.
One of Yan’s Auckland-based lawyers, Simon Lance, said in an e-mail that his client “does not accept that he is guilty of embezzling money in China.”
Another one of the lawyers, Marc Corlett, said in a statement that the settlement was a “commercial compromise” that would allow Yan to recover his seized assets and “return his focus to his business activities in New Zealand and elsewhere.”
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said the police handle investigations independently and it is up to them to determine whether it is better to settle a case or pursue charges.
However, opposition lawmaker Winston Peters said the way the case was handled was demeaning for New Zealand.
“You know, we’re dancing on a pinhead for China in so many areas,” he said.
As part of an operation it calls Sky Net, China last year issued a list of its 100 most-wanted economic fugitives, who it accuses of absconding overseas with ill-gotten gains.
Under the name Yan Yongming, Yan made the list at No. 5.
The listing said Yan is wanted by police in the northeast Chinese city of Tonghua, where he last worked as chairman of a pharmaceutical company, the Tonghua Golden Horse Group (通化金馬藥業集團). It lists three different passport numbers and three national identification numbers for Yan, who it also lists under the name Liu Yangming.
China said between 11 and 20 of the alleged economic fugitives have fled to New Zealand, making it the third-most popular destination behind the US and Canada.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
NEW LOW: The council in 2024 based predictions on a pessimistic estimate for the nation’s total fertility rate of 0.84, but last year that rate was 0.69, 17 percent lower An expected National Development Council (NDC) report expects the nation’s population to drop below 12 million by 2065, with the old-age dependency ratio to top 100 percent sooner than 2070, sources said yesterday. The council is slated to release its latest population projections in August, using an ultra-low fertility model, the sources said. The previous report projected that Taiwan’s population would fall to 14.37 million by 2070, but based on a new estimate of the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman over her lifetime — the population is expected to reach 12 million by
RSS