Taiwanese telecoms fraud case heading to trial on mainland China as Taipei delegation returns home
Beijing says the 45 suspects sent back from Kenya confessed to taking part in scam and would be prosecuted, in a criminal case that has riled cross-strait ties
All 45 Taiwanese telecoms fraud suspects are unlikely to be sent to Taiwan for prosecution after Beijing made clear they had confessed to their crimes and would be tried according to mainland law.
The decision was announced by Xinhua as a 10-member Taiwanese delegation returned home yesterday after meetings with mainland police and judicial officials.
“The suspects specifically targeted people on the Chinese mainland and their victims are from the mainland,” Chen Shiqu, a deputy inspector with the Public Security Ministry’s criminal inspection bureau, was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
“They will thus be investigated, prosecuted and tried in accordance with mainland law,” Chen said, adding all 45 had “admitted their guilt”.
Taipei officials in Beijing to negotiate over deportations of Taiwanese telecom fraud suspects
The suspects were sent to Beijing from Kenya earlier this month after allegedly swindling millions of yuan out of mainland residents, some of whom were reported to have committed suicide after losing their life savings, mainland police said. Similar accusations were levelled against dozens of Taiwanese in Malaysia.
The incidents triggered a row between Taipei and Beijing over which side had jurisdiction over the cases.