The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that the government may seize US$480 million from accounts belonging to the estate of late arms dealer Andrew Wang (汪傳浦) by retroactively applying property seizure rules that were amended in the Criminal Code in 2016.
The decision threw out a constitutional challenge by Wang’s wife, Yeh Hsiu-chen (葉秀貞), Wei Chuan Foods Corp and other parties to the legal application and property confiscation rules stipulated by the Criminal Code’s articles 2, 38 and 40.
The verdict of Constitutional Case No. 18, 2022 establishes the principle that confiscating criminal proceeds is a restorative measure that gives assets back to their rightful owners, instead of a punishment for the guilty, Chief Justice Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
This means the government did not breach the Constitution’s protections against ex post facto laws, which prohibit the retroactive application of punitive measures, but do not prevent the implementation of restorative measures, Hsu said.
The plaintiffs cannot lay claim to the breach of their legitimate expectations as a third party because they had accepted criminal proceeds in bad faith, he said.
The amendments to property confiscation rules stipulate that illicit gains should be confiscated according to the law at the time of judgement, not the crime’s commission, and that the property of a third party could be seized if they had acted in bad faith.
Wang was a central figure in the Lafayette frigate procurement scandal.
He fled Taiwan on Dec. 20, 1993, days after the body of navy captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) was found in waters off the east coast.
Yin was reportedly a whistle-blower who had planned to report graft and siphoning of funds by people involved in the deal.
Prosecutors in 2006 indicted Wang on charges of bribery, money laundering and other crimes.
He reportedly died in the UK in 2015, leaving a sizeable inheritance to his family in accounts held mainly in Swiss banks.
Yeh, who was also indicted in connection to the scandal, is living abroad as a fugitive and filed the case by proxy.
Wei Chuan Foods joined the lawsuit to avoid the seizure of NT$32.9 million (US$1.07 million) in assets after company chairman Wei Ying-chung (魏應充) was found guilty of selling tainted food oils.
A court found the company liable for the scheme a few months before the amendments passed in 2016.
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