The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it would probe reports that Singapore provided information about suspected money-laundering by members of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) family as early as last year.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) made the remarks after the Chinese-language China Times reported that Singapore contacted Taiwan about the matter in March last year.
Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) allegedly transferred money to a Singapore bank account in her brother Wu Ching-mao’s (吳景茂) name last year after Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘), Chen’s son-in-law, was indicted for insider trading in a corruption scandal in 2006.
Wu Ching-mao reportedly then closed his account and transferred the money to a Swiss bank account under the name of Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), Chen Shui-bian’s daughter-in-law.
Ou said the ministry had only received a request for judicial assistance from Switzerland last month.
Asked whether some officials may have withheld information about the case, Ou said “the ministry will be able to track it down if there were files.”
Vice Foreign Affairs Minister Javier Hou (侯清山) said the ministry would launch an investigation into the matter.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese official stationed in Singapore yesterday said that the representative office had not received any information on the accounts of Chen or his family members and had not been contacted by the government of Singapore on the matter.
The official also said the representative office had not been contacted either when Taiwanese investigators went to Singapore to probe the Papua New Guinea scandal.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
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