Six months after she jumped bail and flew to the US, the Taipei District Court has ordered the arrest of Gloria Chu (
Charged with misappropriating around NT$1.4 million from CBS, Chu has evaded court proceedings since March. She claims that she must remain in the US for now to fulfill immigration application procedures there.
The Taipei District Court issued an arrest warrant for Chu in late April and ordered the forfeiture of her NT$500,000 bail after determining that she had attempted to avoid trial.
Although Taiwan does not have an extradition treaty with the US, the court has ordered local law enforcement authorities to bring the defendant back through their overseas network -- which could involve sending law enforcement agents to the US to apprehend Chu.
Sun Ming-yu (
He said, however, that he believes Chu had every intention of attending the trial.
The defense lawyer earlier told the court that Chu was wary of the prosecution's previous order preventing her from leaving Taiwan and was afraid that she would not be allowed to go overseas again if she came back.
However, Chu Jui-chuan (
On Oct. 12 last year, just a few hours after posting NT$500,000 bail ordered by prosecutors and agreeing not to leave the country, Chu boarded an EVA Airways flight to Los Angeles.
Although prosecutors in Taipei immediately contacted US immigration authorities, Chu was granted provisional entry to the US on Oct. 14 last year, after 12 hours of questioning by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Los Angeles.
On Oct. 27, to the surprise of Taipei prosecutors and the local media, Chu had an interview with US immigration authorities and was granted a green card under a priority immigration scheme for talented and outstanding individuals.
The prosecution indicted Chu on a charge of embezzlement and demanded a jail term of one year and two months.
Chu's case has been the subject of much discussion in Taiwan due to her status as a former high-level government official and also a long-time aide to KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰).
Some allege that the missing money actually went to Lien's presidential campaign last year, but the KMT has strenuously denied the allegations.
Other local media reports have speculated that she used the misappropriated money to pay for redecoration work on her house in Taipei.
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