The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is sending a seven-person team to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to investigate claims that a Taiwanese diplomat killed himself after being pressured to approve a US$400,000 refurbishment of his boss’ official residence, the ministry said yesterday.
The team — which includes civil servants from the ministry’s ethics and budget, and accounting departments, would depart on Sunday and spend seven to nine days questioning personnel regarding the apparent suicide of Felix Wang (王之化), ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said.
Wang, a section chief at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sao Paulo, fell to his death from his 16th-floor residence on March 10.
Photo: CNA
The team is to release the results of its probe within a month of returning to Taiwan, Liu said.
Yu Hui-min (俞惠敏), Wang’s widow, accused Sao Paulo office head Feng Kwang-chung (馮光中) of pressuring Yu into signing off on a US$400,000 refurbishment of Feng’s official residence in Brazil.
Feng threatened to frame Wang for embezzlement after Wang did not immediately approve the expenditure, Yu said.
The abusive work environment under Feng might have been instrumental in Wang’s decision to take his own life, she said, adding that Feng was attempting to spin a narrative that Wang had depression.
Earlier yesterday, Yu’s older sister filed a defamation lawsuit on Yu’s behalf against Feng with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大?) said in a legislative session earlier this month that all expenses relating to the refurbishment of Feng’s residence were approved in June last year, one month before Wang took up his post in Sao Paulo.
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