The Ministry of National Defense is suing the French government for alleged kickbacks paid to French officials for the purchase of Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters between 1992 and 1997, an official said.
The ministry has acquired the services of an elite French legal firm for one year for the suit, costing NT$177 million (US$5.86 million), a senior official who has knowledge of the matter said.
The France-based legal firm is to represent Taiwan until July 23 next year, but the ministry is to continue the case if the court of arbitration does not reach a verdict by July next year, said the official who requested anonymity.
Photo: Yu Tai-lang, Taipei Times
The ministry believes the legal fees are justified, as the court ruled in a former case that France is to repay US$875 million for bribes paid to its officials for selling six Lafayette-class frigates, the official said.
The French-made frigates cost Taiwan NT$78 billion, less than half the NT$160 billion paid for 60 Mirage 2000 jets, the official said.
“Although the two cases are not comparable, if it is proven that there were kickbacks paid for the fighters, we will likely demand repayments that are greater than the compensation we are to receive for the Lafayette-class frigates,” the official said.
Following the legal victory in the Lafayette case, the ministry in 2012 sued for compensation over bribes that were allegedly paid for Mirage 2000 fighters, the official said.
It took four years for the case to clear preliminary legal procedures, which is now to be heard at the court of arbitration, the official added.
The air force is to send a legal team of 12 people to France to be involved in the proceedings, the official said.
The French government was upset by the case brought by the Mirage 2000 scandal, which has affected its commitment to provide technical support for the fighters, another anonymous source said.
The dispute had a negative effect on the fighters’ maintenance, spare parts supply and the life-extension program for their missiles, the source said.
However, the French government has continued hosting training for Taiwanese pilots, a program that began in November last year and is to continue until October next year, in addition to sending instructors to Taiwan for advanced tactical training, the source said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
RSS