Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材) was given a final sentence of three years and 10 months in prison yesterday by the Taiwan High Court, for his role in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) diplomatic fraud scandal
The ruling said Wu and Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), the other prime suspect in the case, were commissioned in August 2006 by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former National Security Council -secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) to act as intermediaries in an attempt to establish diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea.
The ministry later agreed to wire US$29.8 million to a bank account opened by Wu and -Ching at an OCBC Bank branch in Singapore. The funds were to be transferred to the Papua New Guinea government once the two nations had signed a diplomatic communique.
The ruling said that following the failure of the attempt to establish diplomatic relations in December 2006, the ministry asked for the money back. However, -Ching allegedly refused to return the funds and has since disappeared.
After returning to Taiwan, Wu falsified bank statements and claimed an unidentified gunman had told him to keep quiet about the case and leave Taiwan as soon as possible, the ruling said.
In a previous ruling, Wu, who was charged with forgery and defamation, had been sentenced to three years and four months in prison by the Taipei District Court, which said that his actions had seriously harmed Taiwan. Chiou, former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳) and former deputy minister of national defense Ko Cheng-heng (柯承亨) all resigned over their alleged involvement in the diplomatic scheme.
Prosecutors have said they are still investigating whether Chiou and Huang were involved in any further wrongdoing.
Ching, who is a US citizen, is believed to be at large in California.
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