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”.
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.
On Wednesday, Taiwan sent a delegation made up of judicial and relevant department officials to Beijing, for talks on possibly returning the group for an investigation by the island’s authorities.
The delegation communicated with suspects via video link at a detention centre in Beijing on Thursday.
Delegation leader Chen Wen-chi described their talks as “rather positive”.
“Our two sides have agreed to cooperate in probing the Kenya and the Malaysia cases,” she said before departure.
She admitted the investigation would take time and Taipei would continue to talk with Beijing on follow-up matters when the investigation reached a certain stage.
On when the Taiwanese would be sent back to the island after investigation, she said: “There is no timetable.”
Last Friday, Malaysia sent 20 Taiwanese back to Taipei who had been accused in another telecoms scam targeting mainland residents. They were immediately released by Taiwanese authorities, who pointed to a lack of evidence of their involvement and the absence of arrest warrants.
The release sparked controversy in Taiwan and on the mainland, which later forwarded evidence to Taipei, prompting authorities on the island to take action.
On Thursday, 18 of the suspects were detained at the request of prosecutors based in Taichung, central Taiwan, with the remaining two being barred from leaving Taiwan, a court official said.