Farglory Land Development Co chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) was yesterday summoned for questioning by the Shilin District Court as a witness in a loan investigation.
Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung’s (劉政鴻) brother, Liu Cheng-chih (劉政池), was indicted in February by the district prosecutors’ office on charges of illegally occupying public land to build a mansion on Yangmingshan (陽明山) in Taipei.
Prosecutors found that Liu Cheng-chih used the mansion on Yangmingshan to apply for, and was granted, a loan from Farglory Life.
After interviewing senior Farglory Life officials over the past few days, prosecutors summoned Chao for questioning yesterday.
Chao responded to reporters’ queries by saying: “Liu Cheng-hung’s family and I share a friendship of more than 20 years. I cannot reveal the contents of the investigation because of a gag order.”
Prosecutors suspect that Liu Cheng-chih applied for and was granted a loan of NT$300 million (US$10 million) by Farglory Life, and that Liu used the property on Yangmingshan as collateral for NT$200 million of the total.
Prosecutors said Chao claimed the loan is legal and that Farglory was not cheated by Liu.
Meanwhile, the Taipei office of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau yesterday also summoned Liu Cheng-chih and his wife, Chien Hsuan (簡萱), for questioning about the loan.
In November last year, prosecutors raided Liu Cheng-chih’s mansion on Yangmingshan and found a 210m-long basement after digging around the area. The cellar — as large as a full-sized basketball court — was formed out of 12 shipping containers that were each 16.15m long, 2.44m wide and 2.59m high — with one of the containers serving as an entrance.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
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The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
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