The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office investigation unit said it was unaware of reports that Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), an arms broker implicated in a corruption scandal surrounding the 1991 procurement of frigates from France, has died, but said that if true, his death would not affect moves to recover his money.
The Special Investigation Division said it would continue to communicate with Swiss judicial authorities regarding Wang’s frozen Swiss bank accounts — containing about US$300 million.
The government maintains the money should be returned to Taiwan, the division said.
Wang, who has been on the nation’s most-wanted list for years, was reportedly living in the UK.
Representative to the UK Liu Chih-kung (劉志攻) said he has asked British authorities to help verify the information regarding Wang’s death at the age of 86, but has yet to receive an answer.
He said his office has never given up the hope of getting Wang repatriated to face justice.
However, Taiwan and the UK have not signed a judicial mutual assistance agreement and deal with fugitive matters on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Wang is wanted in connection with a 1991 deal in which the Republic of China Navy bought six Lafayette-class frigates from French Thomson-CSF (now known as Thales SA), for US$2.8 billion.
The price reportedly included procurement kickbacks and bribes to facilitate the purchase. Wang was an agent for Thomson CSF in Taiwan.
He allegedly fled the country a few days after the body of navy captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) was found off the coast of Suao (蘇澳), Yilan County, in December 1993. Yin was reportedly about to blow the whistle on colleagues who were receiving kickbacks in the arms deal.
In April last year, the Supreme Court sentenced former navy captain Kuo Li-heng (郭力恆) to 15 years in prison for accepting US$17 million in kickbacks related to the deal.
The court also demanded that Kuo and Wang, his codefendant, return US$340 million in illicit gains frozen in foreign bank accounts.
The Swiss authorities froze about US$700 million in bank accounts belonging to Wang and Kuo in 2001 at the request of Taiwanese authorities.
Wang appealed the Swiss decision to unfreeze his accounts, but the Special Investigation Division submitted a French translation of the Supreme Court’s final ruling last year that Kuo and Wang were accomplices and that the Swiss should not unfreeze the bank accounts.
The Swiss authorities later rejected Wang’s request.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Defense said France has already paid Taiwan over the warship deal and there was nothing between the ministry and Wang that needs to be settled.
The International Court of Arbitration ruled in April 2010 that Thomson-CSF should pay Taiwan 630 million euros (US$722.2 million at current exchange rates), including a fine of about 435 million euros, plus interest, litigation fees and other related expenses, for paying commissions in violation of the frigate contract.
The French government had to pay 72.5 percent of the penalty, or 460 million euros, because it guaranteed the contract, while Thales had to pay the rest.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Many Japanese couples are coming to Taiwan to obtain donated sperm or eggs for fertility treatment due to conservatism in their home country, Taiwan’s high standards and low costs, doctors said. One in every six couples in Japan is receiving infertility treatment, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare data show. About 70,000 children are born in Japan every year through in vitro fertilization (IVF), or about one in every 11 children born. Few people accept donated reproductive cells in Japan due to a lack of clear regulations, leaving treatment in a “gray zone,” Taichung Nuwa Fertility Center medical director Wang Huai-ling (王懷麟)
PROXIMITY: Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location, the Executive Yuan official said Taiwan plans to boost cooperation with the Czech Republic in semiconductor development due to Prague’s pivotal role in the European IC industry, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said. With Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) building a wafer fab in the German city of Dresden, a Germany-Czech Republic-Poland “silicon triangle” is forming, Kung said in a media interview on the weekend after returning from a visit to Prague. “Prague is closer to Dresden than Berlin is, so Taiwanese firms are expected to take advantage of the Czech capital’s location,” he said. “Taiwan and Prague have already launched direct flights and it is
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