Tainan prosecutors yesterday indicted 15 people affiliated with an online company for allegedly unlawfully helping more than 1,000 Chinese nationals enter Taiwan.
The 15 are linked to WISBET Digital Entertainment Developing Co (奕智博數位科技娛樂股份有限開發公司), including the company’s acting chief executive officer surnamed Pan (潘). She is the girlfriend of the man in charge of the firm.
The company’s head, surnamed Chuang (莊), has fled Taiwan and authorities have put him on a wanted list.
All 15 were charged with document forgery and breaching the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), according to the indictment.
The firm also helped foreign operators set up operations and recruit foreign workers in Taiwan, and assisted with applications for visas to enter the country, Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office spokesman Lin Chung-pin (林仲斌) said, adding that investigations started in January.
WISBET illegally helped 1,094 Chinese nationals enter Taiwan from 2015 to last year, and collected NT$50.52 million (US$1.73 million) in service fees for its operators, Tainan prosecutors said.
In July, Taipei prosecutors reportedly found the e-commerce company was also a front for a cross-border gambling Web site that laundered money for 50 domestic and foreign gambling Web sites, making NT$5 billion over an eight-day period.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
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
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS