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.
Germany has been trying to maintain a balance between its ties with Taiwan and its economic links to China, outgoing German Institute Taipei Director-General Thomas Prinz has said. Speaking in an interview with the Central News Agency, Prinz said that Germany has good relations with Taiwan based on their shared values of freedom and democracy. The countries also enjoy strong bilateral trade, which totals about 18 billion euros (US$21.37 billion) annually, he said. There are potential opportunities for cooperation between Germany and Taiwan in the fields of renewable energy, 5G technologies, semiconductors, biotechnology and education, Prinz said. However, Germany also has strong economic ties
‘PIONEERING SEEDS’: Taiwanese students at a school in China’s Fujian Province must swear an oath to the CCP and study Xi’s teachings, an NCKU professor said Beijing is training Taiwanese at Minnan Normal University to assist its “united front” efforts in Taiwan, a China researcher said on Tuesday. The school in Zhangzhou, in China’s Fujian Province, had already trained nearly 300 Taiwanese as of last month, National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) professor Hung Ching-fu (洪敬富) said. Taiwanese graduating from the program would be expected to return to Taiwan as “pioneering seeds of China’s united front” efforts, he said, adding that the government should be on guard. From September last year to last month, China held six semesters of the training program, he said, adding that it ramped up enrollment
The US Department of State on Wednesday reiterated that the use of force by any party to change the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait would be a “profound mistake.” At a news briefing, US Department of State spokesman Ned Price quoted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken as saying: “It would be a profound mistake by any party to try and remake that ‘status quo’ with the use of force.” China was not mentioned, but the statement was seen as a veiled message to Beijing. China has said that it wants “peaceful reunification,” but it has not renounced the use of force
RUNNING IN 2024? Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that he would focus on current tasks, as he would still have 13 months until the election upon leaving office next year The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday detailed the timeline of events leading up to its joint news conference with the Taipei City Government on Friday last week in response to accusations from Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) that the center tried to “set him up.” Ko in an interview on Wednesday with Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) said that the CECC only notified him of the news conference at Huannan Market (環南市場) 30 minutes in advance. Only after he arrived and found so many officials present and prepared did he realize that he had been “lured into a
RSS