Taiwan's law-enforcement authorities have sought to freeze US$100 million (HK$780 million) in deposits they recently found in bank accounts held by an arms broker implicated in the island's most notorious kickbacks case.
The money was being deposited in the bank accounts of arms broker Andrew Wang and his son in Liechtenstein and the Cayman Islands, the United Daily News said.
The paper described the findings as 'major progress' by the special investigation team authorised by President Chen Shui-bian. The report said the new accounts did not surface until recently when Mr Wang asked that his long-term deposits be changed to short-term deposits.
An unnamed official from the inquiry team was quoted as saying Mr Wang might have tried to quietly withdraw the money that was part of the illegal payments.
Magistrates in Geneva, and in Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, previously froze about 540 million euros (HK$4.5 billion) worth of Mr Wang's deposits in the course of the investigation.
Taiwan in 1991 struck an agreement with France to buy six Lafayette frigates, built by Thomson-CSF, for US$2.8 billion, a deal that strained French ties with China.
