A US court’s recent acceptance of a court ruling from Singapore opens the way for the Republic of China (ROC) government to file a suit for the return of misappropriated ROC government funds in a US court.
In 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材) and Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖) US$29.8 million as part of an attempt to forge diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea (PNG), with US$200,000 of the total designated as spending money for the men.
The funds were wired to a Singaporean bank account jointly opened by Wu and Ching. However, it was discovered just as then-president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) second term was coming to an end that the deal with Papua New Guinea had not gone through and that Wu and Ching had kept the funds for themselves.
The ministry filed a civil suit in Singapore and the Singapore High Court ruled that Taiwan was entitled to the sum of US$29.8 million plus interest earned on the account between the date of deposit and the date of the verdict.
Wu was arrested in Taiwan on charges of forgery and making false claims related to the Papua New Guinea venture and started serving a 30-month sentence in May 2009.
Ching fled to the US with most of the money and has since reportedly transferred the funds to his children.
The ministry filed the suit with the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, last year, asking it to acknowledge the ruling of the Singaporean court. It also asked the US court to void Ching’s application for the transfer of ownership of a piece of land in the US.
The Superior Court of California ruled last month that it would accept the ruling of the Singaporean court, opening the way for the ministry to file a suit against Ching in a US court for the return of the embezzled funds.
According to court papers from the The Superior Court of California, at the time of the Singaporean verdict, Ching was liable to return US$18 million to the ROC government, but the total amount with interest now exceeds US$20 million.
The government is also able to track money through legal channels in order to ensure all the funds related to the case are recovered.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
MARITIME SECURITY: Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a ‘threat’ for various reasons, including the amount of time they spent loitering near subsea cables, the CGA said Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables. The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan. The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously. Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt
RSS