Kaohsiung City Councilor Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) said yesterday that his wife had asked former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) for NT$2.5 billion in financial assistance to bail out their conglomerate three years ago, the Chinese-language media reported.
Prosecutors detained Chu's wife, former legislator Wu Der-mei (吳德美), on Nov. 17 on suspicion that illegal transactions had taken place at one of their companies, Feng An Metal Company (峰安金屬).
Prosecutors suspect that Wu, along with others, was responsible for the funneling of some NT$2 billion in funds between Feng An and other companies they owned between 1997 and 1998.
Investigators suspect the sale was used as a cover to move funds out of Feng An.
Chu, who enjoys immunity as a city councilor, went to the prosecutors on Monday for questioning. He was released early yesterday morning.
Chu said at the city council yesterday that Feng An did not actually receive the NT$2.5 billion bailout funds at the time.
The money was instead used to set up a company jointly owned by Feng An and a third investment company.
The money never actually came into his hands, Chu said.
Chu has previously been charged with a number of financial crimes, including evading NT$350 million in taxes and using dummy companies to inflate the business performance of Feng An in order to get the company listed on the stock market.
Both An Feng Metal and Chu An Steel were involved in repeated multi-million dollar check default scandals in the summer of 1998 which plunged the Pan Asia Bank (泛亞商業銀行) into crisis.
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. Philippine authorities were assessing the damage from the quake, with the office of civil defense seeking to verifying initial reports that 15 people had been killed and 129 injured in the region, mostly from falling debris. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province,
‘GRAY ZONE’ PRESSURE: Beijing’s activities are intended to create the deceitful impression that China has jurisdiction over the area around Taiwan, the CGA said Taiwan’s rights over its territorial waters and exclusive economic zone must not be violated by any country, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that it will not accept any unprovoked actions. The council issued the remarks in response to the China Coast Guard conducting maritime enforcement drills near eastern Taiwan and claiming to fully exercise China’s maritime administrative law enforcement authority. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has been closely monitoring the situation and is taking concrete steps to defend the nation’s sovereignty and secure its waters, the council said. China has no sovereign rights over the waters off eastern
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS