Kaohsiung police last week busted a money laundering operation suspected of seeking to interfere in tomorrow’s local elections.
The operation was allegedly headed by a man surnamed Lee (李), who had received NT$9.5 billion (US$306.18 million) from China over the past six months, Kaohsiung police said yesterday, adding that Lee’s ring is suspected to be part of a larger Chinese effort to interfere in the elections and support pro-China candidates.
Officers arrested Lee, 35, and his girlfriend, searched his mansion, and seized the money he had allegedly received from China and three luxury vehicles, police said.
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung police
The operation was disguised as an online gambling and betting site, police said, adding that they had surveilled Lee for several months after an investigation into an earlier money laundering case indicated that he is engaging in illegal activities.
Lee would be charged with contravening the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), police said.
His communications records showed that he had contacts in China, who are suspected to be behind the fund transfers, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.
Photo courtesy of Kaohsiung police
The purpose of the transfers remains unclear, as does the identity of those involved in China, police said.
Lee’s operation might also be connected to rings uncovered earlier this year that had allegedly received large sums of money from Chinese operatives, they said.
Earlier this month, police searched a house owned by a couple in Taichung, where they seized NT$17 billion, allegedly originating in China, and four luxury vehicles in one of the largest such raids this year.
Prosecutor Chan Chang-hui (詹常輝) said the couple’s online gaming site allegedly also offered illicit banking and foreign remittance services, which were used by illegal gambling sites in China.
They might also have had links to Chinese government agencies seeking to interfere in the local elections, Chan said.
Prosecutors are working to “combat illegal Chinese money transfers to Taiwan,” Chan said, adding that this includes “cryptocurrencies, underground remittances and gaming proceeds.”
The Chinese government and its proxies had tried to interfere in previous elections by illegally funding the campaigns of pro-China candidates, Chan said, adding that this also involved illegal transfers to money laundering rings.
China also uses these strategies to destabilize Taiwan’s financial institutions and fund organized crime operations, as it seeks to undermine public safety in the nation, Chan said.
In the past, Beijing has helped pro-China candidates pay campaign expenses, including offices, vehicles, staff, printing costs, rallies and deposits for listing as candidates, Chan said.
It also funded candidates’ illegal vote-buying attempts, Chan added.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS