The Panamanian ambassador criticized yesterday a ruling by the Taipei District Court asking his country's embassy to pay NT$1 million to a local company over a fraudulent car sale by former ambassadors, saying the decision was detrimental to bilateral ties.
"I believe that the judge is totally crazy ... She put the long-lasting and good relations between the two countries at risk," Ambassador Jose Antonio Dominguez of Panama told the Taipei Times yesterday.
On June 3, the Taipei District Court asked the embassy to pay Collins Co NT$1 million plus interest retroactive to April 1, 1996, until payment is made.
Judge Wang Cheng-hsiou (王貞秀) declined to comment when contacted by phone yesterday.
Wilber Ko, deputy manager of Collins Co, said his firm "respects the verdict by the district court," but declined to elaborate.
While the embassy can appeal the ruling within 20 days upon receiving copies of the verdict, the ambassador said his government is still deciding on ways to handle the case.
"I expect to see a strong response from our government," he said.
The ambassador said his predecessors have been involved in what he termed "wrongdoings" by selling vehicles registered for diplomatic use to locals.
But he argued that neither the embassy nor the state of Panama should be held legally responsible for this conduct.
According to the verdict, in 1994 the former Panamanian ambassador illegally sold a Mercedes-Benz 600 limousine registered for diplomatic use to Tang Shou-hung (
The car, which Tang first reported stolen and then found in a parking lot in downtown Taipei, was sold several times using falsified documents and fake plates until it reached Collins, which was not aware of its origin, the verdict said.
In March 1996, the police seized the car and later decided to return the vehicle to the embassy, unaware the car had been sold to Tang in 1994, the verdict said.
Former ambassador Carlos Mendoza, who was in charge of the embassy in 1996, agreed to sell the car for NT$1 million to Lee Chin-hai (李金海), who accompanied a police officer to the office to inform Mendoza of the car's return, the verdict said.
"The Embassy of Panama did not receive a single cent from this transaction, nor did the Treasury of Panama," Ambassador Dominguez said.
In 2000 Collins filed a complaint seeking ownership of the car and compensation from the embassy, the verdict said.
The judge should ask the former ambassadors who were involved in profiting from sale of the car to pay for the compensation instead, Dominguez said.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official involved in the case declined to comment, while adding the ministry would respect the decision of the court.
The judge in the verdict cited article 31 of Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to back up her argument.
The conduct by two former ambassadors from Panama, in 1994 and 1996, amounted to commercial activities outside their official functions and therefore these agents could not enjoy immunity from Taiwan's civil and administrative jurisdiction, the verdict said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS