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.
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
PERSONAL DATA: The implicated KMT members allegedly compiled their petitions by copying names from party lists without the consent of the people concerned Judicial authorities searched six locations yesterday and questioned six people, including one elderly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member and five KMT Youth League associates, about alleged signature forgery and fraud relating to their recall efforts against two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. After launching a probe into alleged signature forgery and related fraud in the KMT’s recall effort, prosecutors received a number of complaints, including about one petition that had 1,748 signatures of voters whose family members said they had already passed away, and also voters who said they did not approve the use of their name, Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor
UNDER ATTACK: Raymond Greene said there were 412 billion malicious threats in the Asia-Pacific region in the first half of 2023, with 55 percent targeting Taiwan Taiwan not only faces military intimidation from China, but is also on the front line of global cybersecurity threats, and it is taking action to counter those attacks, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Speaking at the opening of this year’s Cybersec Expo in Taipei, the president assured foreign diplomats and exhibitors that Taiwan remained committed to strengthening its defense against cyberattacks and enhancing the resilience of its digital infrastructure. Lai referenced a report from the National Security Bureau (NSB) indicating that the Government Service Network faced an average of 2.4 million intrusion attempts daily last year, more than double the figure
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS