The prime suspect in a multibillion-dollar gambling and international money laundering case who was in 2023 repatriated from Thailand was again detained on Friday after he was found to have repeatedly approached airports in contravention of his bail conditions.
Kuo Che-min (郭哲敏) — who fled the country to evade prosecution before being arrested in Thailand in August 2023 — is at the center of a 2022 fraud and money laundering case known as the 88 Lounge, named for the club in which the suspects met.
Kuo and his associate Chang Hsu-shen (張旭昇) allegedly made about NT$1.6 billion (US$48.92 million at the current exchange rate) working with an international crime ring to launder more than NT$21.7 billion, prosecutors said.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
The suspects have been charged with fraud, engaging in organized crime, and contravening the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法).
The prosecution has completed an investigation into Kuo and held a trial hearing, with a ruling expected next month.
In January, a court in New Taipei City released Kuo on NT$200 million bail. The terms of the release required that he be electronically monitored and send photographs of himself to the Ministry of Justice’s Electronic Monitoring Center daily at morning and night.
At a bail hearing on Friday, prosecutors said Kuo had contravened his bail requirements in the past few months, approaching nearby airports and coastal areas.
Numerous irregularities in his electronic monitoring were also detected, resulting in warnings, such as the monitoring device not being linked online and having no communication with him, they said.
The court ordered Kuo to return to judicial detention.
Prosecutors said that he had transferred vast sums of money to overseas accounts, giving him sufficient means to flee abroad, a court filing said.
Another high-profile suspect in the case, Lin Pin-wen (林秉文), repeatedly failed to show up for hearings in New Taipei City, and in late December last year an international wanted notice was issued for his arrest.
Kuo and Lin allegedly worked together to make illicit profits from fraud, international money laundering and online gambling, and operated a gambling operation out of the 88 Lounge. The case has led to investigations into government and judiciary officials who allegedly attended luxury dinners with people believed to be involved in criminal activities.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
RSS