The Taiwan High Court yesterday overruled a district court decision that granted bail to KMT legislator Gary Wang (
Amid intense media scrutiny, the Taipei District Court in late August rejected a prosecutors' request to detain Wang.
The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office had charged Wang with forgery and breach of trust in a real estate transaction and released him on bail of NT$15 million. They had requested that Wang be remanded in custody to prevent him from collaborating with other parties to fabricate testimony or destroy evidence.
Prosecutors say Wang, chairman of Far Eastern Silo and Shipping (FESS,
The High Court, having heard the prosecutors' appeal, ruled that the district court had given insufficient weight to the possibility that Wang might conspire with his co-defendant, Chung Ying-feng (
Wang is the eighth person to be charged in the land deal scandal. Others include three TDTC officials, three alleged go-betweens and the landowner from whom FESS bought the property.
In requesting the detention, prosecutors had argued that there was a possibility that Wang would collaborate with Chung, one of the alleged go-betweens who was charged in absentia and remains in hiding.
The prosecution also presented to the court evidence showing suspicious money transfers from Chung to Wang after the land sale.
The district court had found credible Wang's argument that the money he is alleged to have obtained fraudulently was the repayment of a debt by Chung, an old friend of his, and had nothing to do with the land deal.
But the High Court said yesterday that the source of the funds would require further investigation and that Wang's and Chung's testimonies on the money are crucial to discovery of the facts.
On that ground, the High Court found it reasonable for the prosecution to try and prevent collaboration between Wang and Chung.
The case has now been returned to the district court for review. This involves holding a further detention hearing. The judge who heard the initial hearing is debarred from presiding over the second hearing.
Wang is vice chairman of the Rebar Group (
He is a three-term legislator who has served on the legislature's powerful finance committee, and is a major player among Taiwan's cable TV operators.
Meanwhile, KMT legislator You Hwai-yin (
The court found that You covered up the bank's financial woes in 1996 in an attempt to deceive investors while the bank was trying to expand its capital.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary