Taiwan High Court prosecutor Hung Wei-hua (
He returned, however, bearing not fresh new evidence into the mushrooming scandal, but rather shopping from the autumn sales.
"I've been shopping at the Galeries Lafayette department store and I've brought back some gifts," he said when asked where he had been in France.
After Chinese-language media leaked news of his trip yesterday, Hung faced a barrage of questions from reporters as he left the arrivals hall at CKS International Airport yesterday.
But he disappointed reporters by insisting that he was on a personal holiday and that the trip had nothing to do with his investigative duties.
Hung is the officiating prosecutor of the special task force looking into the murder of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) and associated weapons procurement scandals. He traveled to France on Oct. 18.
The trip had been kept secret by officials but was revealed by local media on Thursday.
According to those reports, state public prosecutor-general and convener of the special task force, Lu Jen-fa (
Hung yesterday refused to answer direct questions from reporters, while Lu confirmed that Hung "was on vacation" and that his trip was not as an official of the special task force.
Investigative work over recent months has resulted in the detention of five incumbent and retired mid- and high-ranking Taiwan naval officers.
In related news, French police have concluded that the death of a former French diplomat involved in the controversy was accidental, the French prosecutor's office said yesterday.
Thierry Imbot, 48, son of a former head of France's main foreign spying agency, was found dead in Paris on Oct. 10 after he fell from a fourth-storey window in his apartment.
The Paris prosecutor's office said it was closing the file into his death as a result of the police conclusions.
Imbot was based in Taiwan in 1991 to oversee the frigate sale.
One Paris newspaper said Imbot's diplomatic activities had been a cover for intelligence activities.
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