A former army captain charged with corruption was repatriated to Taiwan this afternoon in a joint mission by Taiwanese and Philippine authorities, the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau said.
The ex-military man, Lee Chen-yu (李振育), had been detained in the Philippines for more than a year after he was arrested by Philippine authorities in Cebu in February last year based on information from the bureau that he was a fugitive, the bureau said in a statement.
However, the Philippine authorities refused to deport Lee to Taiwan, as they mistook him for another fugitive with the same name and needed to investigate whether he was involved in other cases, the bureau said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Through cooperation between Taiwan officials in the Philippines and Philippine authorities, Lee was ultimately deported to Taiwan and subsequently arrested by bureau officials in Taoyuan today, it said.
As a project officer for a military unit managing veterans dependents’ villages in 2018 and 2019, Lee allegedly presented fake documents to get contractors seeking space in the areas to pay him rent and security deposits, in contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office ordered the bureau to investigate the case, but Lee escaped to the Philippines in March 2020, after which the bureau listed him as a fugitive, it said.
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