Washington has reportedly sent two officials to Taiwan to assist in the government’s efforts to recover funds allegedly embezzled by diplomatic brokers in a scandal dating back to former ROC President Chen Shui-bian’s administration.
The pair of officials from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security secretly arrived in Taiwan to study how to help in recovering about US$29 million wired in 2006 by the ROC government to a joint Singapore bank account held by Ching Chi-ju and Wu Shih-tsai.
The two brokers had been commissioned by the government at the time to work toward establishing formal diplomatic ties with the South Pacific island nation of Papua New Guinea.
The visit by the ICE officers marks the first time that Washington has sent officials to Taiwan to conduct judicial investigations since the case came to light some two years ago. Both the Taiwan and U.S. governments have remained low-keyed about the visit.
According to sources familiar with the case, the two visiting officials hope to obtain evidence and detailed records from Taiwan authorities concerning Ching’s reported remittance of a sum of money from Singapore to the U.S.
If it is determined that the illicitly obtained funds were remitted to a dummy account in the U.S., then U.S. authorities will freeze the account and then seize the funds if it becomes necessary later, the sources said.
Of the roughly US$29.8 million wired to the joint account held by Ching and Wu in a bank branch of Singapore’s Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp. Ltd. in 2006, US$4.5 million ended up in another account held by Wu, while the remaining US$25.3 million was allegedly embezzled.
In December of last year, the High Court of Singapore ordered the bank to remit back to Taiwan the sum of US$1.5 million in Wu’s bank account.
Ching has denied embezzling any of the money for personal use and has refused to repay the funds. The case is still being tried at Singapore’s High Court.
Wu is currently serving a prison sentence of two years and four months in Taiwan for forgery of documents related to the case and making false accusations. (SB)