Not enough evidence was found to indict Taiwanese diplomat Jacqueline Liu (劉姍姍) over abuse of her maids in the US and violating the Criminal Code, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The office closed the case and described it as a civil dispute because insufficient evidence was presented to support criminal charges against Liu, who was the former director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, Missouri.
Liu was accused of abusing her two Filipino maids in the US, and faced potential charges of embezzlement, fraud and violating the Human Trafficking Prevention Act (人口販運防制法).
Liu had been suspected of embezzlement because she had signed a contract with the maids to give them a monthly salary of US$1,240, but only paid them US$450 a month.
However, prosecutors found that the amount Liu paid was the amount she reported back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for reimbursement, indicating she had not embezzled funds.
Regarding the accusations that Liu’s payment of only a fraction of the contracted amount constituted fraud, the maids had agreed to the monthly salary and to have accommodation, food and insurance expenses deducted from it, prosecutors said.
Since the maids had agreed to the conditions, Liu could not be indicted for fraud, prosecutors said, noting that the circumstances involved were more suited to a civil case than a criminal one.
An investigation by prosecutors also discovered that the US$1,240 contract provided by an official at Taiwan’s representative office in the Philippines who interviewed the maids was calculated in accordance with the minimum wage in the US and included insurance, local media reported.
As for the human trafficking charges and Liu restricting the maids’ freedom with three surveillance cameras, the cameras had actually been installed in the house before she was posted to the US, the reports said.
Liu was arrested by the FBI on Nov. 10 last year, and was detained for two months before entering a plea agreement.
Under the deal, she was ordered to pay US$80,044 in restitution to the two maids on Jan. 27, and was deported to Taiwan on Feb. 15. Liu was questioned by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Feb. 22. The case has prompted the ministry to review its employment system for foreign housekeepers in the homes of diplomats stationed overseas.
The Control Yuan last month impeached Liu after it completed its probe into her case and accused her of malfeasance for having hired a Chinese woman as a housekeeper in a move it said “raised national security concerns.”
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
RSS