Local media reported yesterday the strategy adviser to the president and former Chief of the General Staff Liu Ho-chien (
Liu is the highest-ranking military official to date to be barred from leaving the country.
Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發), State Public Prosecutor-General and convener of the special task force investigating Yin's murder, neither confirmed nor denied the news that Liu had been barred from leaving the country.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
Lu's task force found there were suspicious monetary transactions in bank accounts belonging to Liu's relatives during the years of the Lafayette frigate deal, Chinese-language media reports said yesterday.
The task force also believes it was Liu who tipped off Shan Yi-cheng (
Shan returned to Taiwan in July and prosecutors are investigating allegations that he used bribery to win a contract for German-made minesweepers.
The report said that according to investigations, another arms broker, Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), left the country after Yin's murder and may be involved in the case.
Wang was the representative in Taiwan for the French Lafayette manufacturer Thomson CSF.
According to the reports, members of the task force suspect that transactions detected in bank accounts held by Liu's relatives may have been bribery money paid by Wang.
However, the report quoted members of the investigative task force as saying that the restriction placed on Liu's travel did not indicate Liu's involvement in the crimes, but was merely investigative procedure.
Meanwhile, Deputy Secretary-General to the President Eugene Chien (
"The Yin case must be solved completely. However, human rights must be respected. All men are equal before the law and the government will not take further action before evidence has been gathered," he said.
Lu refused to respond to specifics concerning the travel ban.
"[Information related to the] investigation shall not be made public. I cannot say yes or no," Chien said.
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
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
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