The suspect in what has been described as the “perfect insurance scam” was repatriated from China yesterday to face criminal charges.
The 66-year-old Hsu Wen-tung (許文同), whose three children claimed more than NT$106 million (US$3.6 million) in insurance compensation, was repatriated by Criminal Investigation Bureau officers.
Investigators said Hsu, who ran a construction business in then-Taipei County, but whose business failed in the 1990s, bought life insurance from Cathay Life Insurance in 1993.
Photo: CNA
In July 2001, as Typhoon Toraji was hitting the nation, Hsu drove his wife, Yan Li-ying (嚴麗瑛), along the Binhai Coast Road (濱海公路) to Yilan County,and their children followed in another car, investigators said.
The family stopped and pushed Hsu’s car down a cliff overlooking the sea and then the children drove their parents away, investigators allege.
Hsu’s children claimed that their parents died in an accident and that their bodies were washed away, they added.
They said the couple hid in the county’s Tamsui Township (淡水) afterward. Their children claimed more than NT$106 million in compensation from Cathay.
The insurance company thought the case was suspicious and filed a suit in a district civil court, but the court decided the company had to pay off the policy, investigators said.
They allege that in 2005, Hsu and Yan flew to China’s Jiangsu Province with fake passports and residency permits.
They said that in May, Yan, who got very sick and was hospitalized in Jiangsu, was found by Chinese authorities to have false documents.
Yan died later and the authorities would not allow her to be cremated in China.
They added that in June, Hsu’s son reported the matter to the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office, revealing the scam and said that his father would like to be sent back to Taiwan with the body of his wife.
Hsu, who arrived in the country at 2pm with Yan’s body on the same plane, was sent to the Prosecutors’ Office.
Investigators said all five members of the family were suspected of involvement in the fraud.
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