Former speaker of the Kaohsiung City Council Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) tops the list of the nation's 10 most wanted fugitives, the Cabinet announced yesterday. A cash reward of up to NT$10 million is being offered for information leading to the arrest of any of these fugitives, regardless of the informant's nationality.
Although even PRC citizens can come forward with information, the reward does not apply to judicial or martial prosecutors, police officers, law enforcement officers or domestic or foreign government officials investigating major criminal cases.
Despite the government's efforts, a Cabinet official who asked not to be named said that the list is politically motivated.
"If you closely study the list, you'll find that only two are wanted for undermining social security," the official said, insinuating that the remaining eight are involved in political cases.
The other people on the list are Wu Tse-yuan (伍澤元), a former member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and independent lawmaker, Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍), former chief cashier of the National Security Bureau, Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), a murder suspect, Eddie Liu (劉偉杰), an embezzlement suspect, Chen You-hao (陳由豪), former chairman of the Tuntex Group, Chang Wan-li (張萬利), former chairman of the Jin Wen Institute of Technology, Hsueh Chiu (薛球) and Chen Yi-hua (陳益華), kidnappers, and Chang Chao-chuan (張朝權), former Changhua County deputy commissioner.
Wu was convicted on corruption and fraud charges in 1996 for his involvement in the 1992 Sipiantou (
The Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation believes that its special agents have spotted Wu in Guangzhou, China.
Liu Kuan-chun is suspected of embezzling more than NT$192 million from the National Security Bureau. According to the Bureau of Investigation, he left Taiwan in September 2000 and went to Shanghai. He surfaced in Bangkok in January last year and then went to North America. Sources said that he is now in Canada.
Wang has been wanted since September 2000 in connection with the murder of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) in December 1993. He is suspected of having received a share of a secret commission for having played an instrumental role in securing the deal for a French company, Thomson CSF, now called Thales, to build six Lafayette frigates for Taiwan.
Eddie Liu allegedly embezzled NT$3 billion from Lee and Li Attorneys-at-Law before he disappeared in August. Prosecutors believe Liu fled to Hong Kong after reportedly converting the stolen funds into diamonds.
Chen You-hao was indicted on charges of breach of trust. He reportedly left Taiwan for China last August. He was accused of stealing NT$800 million from the Tuntex Group's subsidiary Tunghua Development in 1995 and investing the money in China.
The Tuntex Group is one of the country's largest conglomerates, incorporating department stores, property development and construction. The group experienced a financial crisis in 1995 and 1996, which many attribute to the alleged theft.
Chang Wan-li was accused of embezzling money from the Jin Wen Institute before fleeing the country.
Hsueh Chiu (
Chang Chao-chuan had been charged with buying votes during the March 2000 presidential election before fleeing to Los Angeles.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail