A former judge and his son are suspected of shipping coal from North Korea to sell in Vietnam in contravention of UN sanctions on Pyongyang, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said on Monday.
The office said in a statement that Chiang Kuo-hua (江國華), a former Taiwan High Court judge, and his son, Chiang Heng (江衡), chartered a cargo ship via a Chinese intermediary to transport 4 tonnes of anthracite coal from a port in North Korea to Vietnam some time between August and September last year.
In addition to the Chiangs, two other men are also implicated in the case, the office said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The four have been named as defendants and were accused of assisting terrorists and forging documents.
More than 70 prosecutors and police officers on Sunday raided the headquarters of a company founded by the Chiangs and the residences of the four defendants.
Three of the defendants and four witnesses were questioned.
Prosecutors claim that the Chiangs and the two others fabricated the origin of the coal they transported.
During the journey, the Global Positioning System on the cargo ship was turned off to prevent it from being tracked, prosecutors said, adding that the former judge was hospitalized after claiming to be ill and failed to visit the office for questioning.
The office has issued an arrest warrant for him.
After questioning Chiang Heng, prosecutors believe that he was involved in the case and have applied to a court to detain him to prevent him destroying evidence or colluding with the other defendants.
The two other defendants have been released on bail of NT$100,000 each, they said.
Earlier this month, a Taiwanese was accused of involvement in a separate case in which he allegedly chartered a Hong Kong-registered vessel to secretly sell oil to North Korea.
The man denies the accusations.
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