A fugitive who had been in hiding for nine years and wanted for defrauding investors by claiming to have developed “magnetic motor vehicle” was arrested earlier this month after being stopped by police for jaywalking, the Taipei police said yesterday.
In 2015, Hsieh Chun-chuan (謝均權), 65, was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding investors of NT$200 million (US$6.23 million at the current exchange rate), but he jumped bail and disappeared.
Two police officers from Taipei’s Wenshan District Second Precinct said they arrested Hsieh by chance while on traffic duty when they stopped him to issue a ticket for jaywalking.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
In 2011, Hsieh claimed that his company Ching Hua International Energy Co acquired magnetic technology that could power cars without gasoline or electricity.
He registered several shell companies and solicited investments of NT$100,000 per member, with several thousand people investing.
He promised that each investor would receive a monthly dividend of NT$7,000, totaling NT$168,000 over two years.
However, it turned out to be a Ponzi scheme.
In November 2012, Hsieh was convicted of fraud and breaches of the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法) and the Banking Act (銀行法), and handed a four-year sentence by the High Court.
After failing in his appeal, public prosecutors served notice for Hsieh to serve his four-year prison sentence in January 2015.
However, he jumped bail and remained in hiding, using a forged driver’s license that enabled him to get through police checks in the past.
However, Wenshan police officer Ching Wei-chieh (景暐傑) searched the police database and found that the name of the person on Hsieh’s ID had died, and Hsieh’s appearence did not match the picture on the ID.
After questioning, Hsieh eventually revealed his real name and was arrested for his involvement in the fraud case.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS