A wealthy fugitive couple has been placed on the most-wanted list, with law enforcement officials saying they are now seeking the assistance of Interpol and the US government, as the two have fled China and are now in the US.
The fugitives, Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) chairman Wang You-theng (王又曾) and his wife Wang Chin She-ying (王金世英), are at the center of a major financial scandal and are believed to have stolen and embezzled millions of dollars before going on the lam.
Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Lin Jinn-tsun (
But prosecutors believe the couple hold passports from other countries.
Prosecutors on Friday issued arrest warrants for Wang and his wife on charges relating to embezzlement from his firms, but the couple failed to show up.
Shanghai
Immigration records show that Wang flew to Hong Kong on Dec. 30, with his wife following on Jan. 1. The two were later spotted at a luxury hotel in Shanghai, media reports said.
Meanwhile, senior officials said the couple had fled China and made their way to the US on Saturday.
"They got on an airplane bound for San Francisco at 11:20am in Shanghai last Saturday. Wang You-theng presented a Republic of China passport to enter the US, while his wife presented a US passport," Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.
After Wang and his wife fled to China, the government urged Beijing to deport them to Taiwan.
"If [reports that Wang and his wife] entered the US prove to be true, it shows that China has no sincerity in answering the government's request [for extradition]. Instead, the Chinese government helped them abscond," Cheng said.
Cheng said that China was a haven for Taiwanese white-collar criminals.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has instructed the MOFA to negotiate with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) on the possibility of judicial assistance in this case, Cheng said.
Meanwhile, the government has also asked the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to assist in locating Wang and his wife, Criminal Investigation Bureau Supervisor Hsu Jui-shan (許瑞山) said during a public hearing in the legislature.
Red Notice
Hsu said that the bureau last week requested the inclusion of Wang and his wife on a "Red Notice" from Interpol. A Red Notice is essentially a notice to police agencies worldwide that a person is wanted, and requests Interpol members to help locate wanted individuals for arrest and extradition.
"We have informed the organization that Wang and his wife are involved in major crimes in Taiwan, and today we will let [Interpol] know that [the Wangs] have been placed on the wanted list," he said.
MOFA Spokesman David Wang (
"We have asked our representative offices in the US to confirm [the couple's presence in the US] with US agencies. But because of the time difference and the fact that it is Martin Luther King Jr Day, a US national holiday, we have not obtained a response so far," David Wang said.
David Wang also said that the MOFA had alerted the US and other countries that Wang You-theng might engage in international money laundering.
Taiwan can seek the US' assistance under the Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement on Criminal Matters between Taiwan and the US signed in 2002. However, because Taiwan has no official diplomatic relation with the US, it cannot ask the US to extradite Wang, David Wang said.
David Wang had no comment on whether the Executive Yuan had been tipped off about the Wangs' whereabouts through the AIT.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
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