Prosecutors yesterday appealed the court’s decision to grant bail to Tu Yu-wen (?又文), a suspect in the Prince Group probe, and are tracking down another suspect, Hu Xiaowei (胡小偉).
The Prince Group, based in Cambodia, was sanctioned last month by the US for transnational fraud and money laundering involving Taiwanese nationals and companies.
Judicial authorities carried out raids on Tuesday, and seized more than NT$4.5 billion (US$144.95 million) in assets, including seven luxury cars.
Photo: Taipei Times
Twenty-five people were also taken in for questioning.
Taipei prosecutors applied to detain Tu, after a judge on Tuesday granted her a NT$300,000 bail.
The modest bail amount drew public backlash, as the case involved billions of dollars in illegal proceeds.
Tu is in charge of 11 Prince Group luxury apartments in the Peace Palace (和平大苑) in Taipei’s Daan District (大安), prosecutors said.
Prosecutors alleged that Hu is the second-in-command of Prince Group head Chen Zhi (陳志).
Hu came to Taiwan multiple times over the past few years to set up and supervise the group’s nine subsidiary firms, which are all in Taipei, they alleged.
Four key suspects in the case were detained with restricted communication, as the court found they were likely to collude and tamper with evidence.
They included Taiwan Skyline Worldwide executives Ku Shu-wen (辜淑雯) and Chiu Tzu-en (邱子恩), alleged head of several Prince Group firms Wang Yu-tang (王昱棠), as well as Lee Shou-li (李守禮), the assistant of Chen’s top aide, Li Tian (李添).
A preliminary probe found that Prince Group ran scam centers and online gambling schemes abroad, and laundered the illegal gains by purchasing properties and luxury cars, prosecutors said, adding that the group allegedly had links with major Taiwanese crime syndicates involved in financial and investment fraud schemes.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS