Now deprived of his immunity from imprisonment, former independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) was arrested yesterday for his suspected role in several criminal cases.
"We received a direct order [to arrest Lo] from the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office (
"Police officers arrived at the location where Lo was, showed him the arrest warrant from the prosecutors and arrested him. However, I cannot tell you where that was."
Lo's six-year career as a lawmaker, which provided him immunity from arrest and imprisonment, ended on Jan. 31.
Shih Liang-po (
"We have been investigating him for a while," Shih said. "Due to his involvement in many different criminal cases, we decided to arrest him on charges of fraud, breach of trust and usury.
"And according to Article 76-2 and 76-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), we have good reason to believe that Lo could go on the run at any time or exchange information with other suspects involved in these cases. That was why we decided to arrest him."
Shih declined to speculate on whether Lo would be detained after his interview with prosecutors.
At press time, Lo was still being interviewed by prosecutors.
His son, KMT legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), arrived at the prosecutors' office yesterday afternoon and said he was surprised by his father's sudden arrest.
"It's my father's first day as a civilian but he has been arrested already," he said. "I think my father has shown his sincerity in wanting to resolve these legal problems. Is it really necessary for prosecutors to arrest him this fast?"
As well as previously serving in the Legislative Yuan, Lo is also the spiritual leader of the "Tiendaomeng" (天道盟) gang.
He was sentenced on Thursday to five months in jail or a NT$135,000 fine by the Taiwan High Court (
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