A High Court ruling yesterday could pave the way for the return to the government of US$520 million of illegal proceeds from arms dealer Andrew Wang’s (汪傳浦) family in the latest chapter of the Lafayette frigate procurement scandal .
This amount would be in addition to a 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court for the return of US$312.5 million while Wang’s family, who is living in Europe, continued to fight the charges.
Wang reportedly died in the UK in 2015.
Image composed by Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Ministry of Justice officials said that through investigations and cooperation with foreign authorities, they found that Wang had stashed his illegal proceeds from the Lafayette frigate scandal in 61 accounts, mainly in Swiss banks, as well as accounts held by his family in banks in about a dozen countries and territories, including Austria, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Jersey island and the Isle of Man.
Ministry officials have asked these countries and jurisdictions to freeze the assets pending court rulings on the case in Taiwan, media reports said.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision, Switzerland in February agreed to return US$266 million to Taiwan, while the procedure for the return of another US$312.5 million is under way, ministry officials said.
Judicial investigators said that Wang’s widow and his four children have continued to file lawsuits against the government in an attempt to hold on to the estimated US$600 million in their overseas accounts.
In 1991, Wang brokered the deal between French contractor Thomson-CSF (later renamed Thales Group) and the Taiwanese military to purchase six frigates.
The deal soon became embroiled in allegations of corruption, bribery and other illegal activities involving Wang, Taiwanese naval officials and many other parties.
Wang fled Taiwan on Dec. 20, 1993, after the body of navy captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) was found in waters off Taiwan’s east coast on Dec. 9 that year.
Yin was reportedly a whistle-blower who had planned to report the graft and money being siphoned off by numerous people involved in the deal.
A fugitive since 1993 who is on Taiwan’s most wanted list, Wang reportedly died in the UK in 2015 at the age of 86. However, some say he faked his death to avoid prosecution.
Prosecutors in 2006 indicted Wang on bribery, money laundering and related illegal actions, seeking a life sentence for him, as well as a 16-year term for his wife, and terms of between 11 and 14 years for his four children.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS