Former legislator Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), who was convicted of securities violations, has gone missing days before starting a four-year prison term, leading to airports and seaports being put on a state of alert.
The Coast Guard Administration’s 23rd Patrol Corps under the North Coast Patrol Office has compiled a total of eight different potential disguises Lo might use to slip out of the country. The corps has distributed the photographs to the security checkpoints for personnel to commit to memory.
The portfolio simulated eight different scenarios in which Lo either wore a beret, a wig, grew a beard, parted his hair down the middle, wore rimless glasses, sunglasses or was entirely bald.
Photo: Li Jung-ping, Taipei Times
The police said that they had exhausted all possible avenues in searching for Lo, but had so far failed to locate him.
Lo is supposed to start serving a four-year prison term on Tuesday for violations of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) and the Business Accounting Act (商業會計法). He is also required to pay a fine of NT$6 million (US$203,390).
The controversial former lawmaker has not been seen in public for 23 days, according to local media reports. Some reports speculated that Lo might have fled to China.
An official with the New Taipei City Police Bureau said all staff at the bureau’s Sindian (新店) branch have been mobilized to monitor Lo for quite some time.
“We have made all possible efforts, including visiting his home in Sindian every day or every other day, but we remain unaware of his whereabouts,” the official said.
According to the bureau, the Aviation Police Office, the Coast Guard Administration, the National Immigration Agency, and the Taipei City and New Taipei City (新北市) divisions of the Investigation Bureau under the Ministry of Justice have all been cooperating closely to prevent Lo from fleeing Taiwan.
Lee Chia-ming (李嘉明), acting spokesman for the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office, said prosecutors have not received any information about Lo sneaking out of the country.
“Both Lo’s family and his secretary have told us that Lo has not fled, but did not want to see anybody at the moment,” Lee said.
On Friday, while fielding questions from the press, Lo’s son, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), said he received a telephone call from his father a few days before, but he would not say if he knew where his father was.
Additional reporting by Lee Jung-ping
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS