Hsiao Teng-piao (蕭登標), a former Chiayi County Council speaker who has been on the run from police since 1996, said during an interview with a cable TV station yesterday that he would report to the Chiayi District Prosecutors' Office himself within days, the Chinese-language media said yesterday.
Hsiao said in the interview with TVBS that Minister of Justice Yeh Chin-fong (
Hsiao, who has been on the run since police targeted him during a large-scale anti-gangster crusade in 1996, faces five charges should he be arrested. The charges range from blackmail and fraud to gambling.
Hsiao said he was "framed" by former Minister of Justice Liao Cheng-hao (
Hsiao also said the main reason why he failed to show up as he had promised in the Legislative Yuan about a week ago is the presence of a large number of heavily-armed police awaiting his arrival. He had notified the media that he was to hold a press conference there.
Hsiao asked Minister of the Interior Huang Chu-wen (
He took full responsibility for evading police, claiming that no one helped him flee arrest during the past three years. He also said he has been in Taiwan the entire time and that reports to the contrary were just rumors.
The interview, however, has embarrassed the Ministry of Justice, which failed to find Hsiao before the media. The ministry said the Chiayi District Prosecutors' Office would find Hsiao's whereabouts through the TV station.
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