Taiwan Prosecutors Visit Geneva on Frigate Scandal Probe

Taiwan Government Information Office, TAIPEI: State Public Prosecutor-General Wu Ying-chao confirmed Wednesday that four members of a special investigation team on the controversial sale of French Lafayette-class frigates to Taiwan had arrived in Switzerland to probe the case more deeply.  
 
The team members, including Prosecutor Tsai Chiu-ming of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and Prosecutor Lo Jung-chian of the Prosecutors' Office for the Taiwan High Court, will examine bank files that the Swiss authorities have agreed to hand over to help  
 
Taiwan accelerate the probe into the scandal involving fugitive Taiwanese arms broker Andrew Wang, who is suspected of bagging more than US$495 million in kickbacks over the sale of six Lafayette frigates to Taiwan in the early 1990s, Wu said.  
 
Wu, who is leading the team, described the prosecutors' visit to Switzerland as having laid a successful model for judicial cooperation between Taiwan and Switzerland.  
 
The Swiss Federal Council approved Oct. 27 the handover of files to the judicial authorities of Taiwan, France and Liechtenstein. These three countries are all investigating whether the case has violated their laws and asked the Swiss authorities to hand over the bank documents to facilitate their investigations.  
 
It is believed that the files — about 50 documents — will mainly be printed or written bank transaction records in Swiss banks regarding Wang and members of his family.  
 
The Swiss Federal Council also rejected Oct. 27 an administrative appeal by Wang attempting to stop judicial cooperation among Taiwan, France and Liechtenstein.  
 
Wang was an agent in Taiwan for Thomson-CSF, which closed a deal in 1991 with Taiwan for the sale of six Lafayette frigates at a price of around US$2.8 billion. Thomson-CSF has been renamed the Thales Group.  
 
Wang fled Taiwan following the death of Republic of China Navy Captain Yin Ching-feng, who is widely believed to have been murdered when he was about to blow the whistle on colleagues for allegedly taking kickbacks in the deal.  
 
Wu said he believes Premier Frank Hsieh's assurance to Switzerland in August that Wang would not face death penalty as a result of any prosecution in the case helped enable the transfer of the Swiss documents, as Switzerland has abolished capital punishment.  
 
Although there is no extradition agreement between Taiwan and Switzerland, Taiwan is not ruling out the hope of somehow getting Wang to Taiwan for trial on charges of murder, corruption, money laundering and fraud, Wu said.  
 
The Swiss Federal Council ruled in 2001 to freeze nearly US$500 million that Wang and members of his family have deposited in 46 accounts with different banks in Switzerland as part of Swiss investigations into alleged money laundering linked to the case.  
 
Meanwhile, authorities in neighboring Liechtenstein have frozen around US$27 million as part of their own investigations, the reports said.  
 
A French judicial investigation was opened in 2001 into claims that a large part of the US$2.8 billion paid by Taiwan for the frigates was spent on commissions to middlemen, politicians and military officers in Taiwan, China and France.  
 
Taiwan submitted Nov. 6, 2001 a request for legal assistance from Switzerland in connection with the case.