The family of deceased fugitive arms dealer Andrew Wang (汪傳浦) would not face prosecution over kickbacks allegedly received during the procurement of French Mirage jet fighters in 1992, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said on Tuesday.
In a statement, prosecutors said that no charges would be brought against Wang’s wife, Yeh Hsiu-chen (葉秀貞), and their four children after the statute of limitations for initiating legal proceedings expired in September last year.
Wang, who died in London in 2015 at the age of 86, allegedly received US$260 million in kickbacks over the course of the Mirage deal, prosecutors said.
Photo: Taipei Times
The arms dealer initially fled to the UK on Dec. 20, 1993, days after the body of Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓), a navy captain in charge of weapons procurement, was found at sea.
Yin had reportedly been set to blow the whistle on graft and the siphoning off of funds in the procurement of six Lafayette-class frigates from France in 1991.
Wang was charged with Yin’s murder in 2000, but prosecutors dropped the case, as well as related corruption charges after the arms dealer’s death was confirmed by Taiwanese officials based in London in 2015.
Wang’s wife, their sons Wang Jia-hsing (汪家興), Wang Jia-yung (汪家勇) and Wang Jia-ming (汪家明), and their daughter Wang Jun-ling (汪君玲) had been listed since 2018 as wanted for their role in the Mirage deal.
While the five have avoided prosecution in connection with the Mirage deal, freezes on their overseas bank accounts are to remain in place in accordance with regulations, prosecutors said.
Additionally, the five are still wanted for their role in the Lafayette case, prosecutors added.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the