A US court’s recent acceptance of a court ruling from Singapore opens the way for the Republic of China (ROC) government to file a suit for the return of misappropriated ROC government funds in a US court.
In 2006, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材) and Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖) US$29.8 million as part of an attempt to forge diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea (PNG), with US$200,000 of the total designated as spending money for the men.
The funds were wired to a Singaporean bank account jointly opened by Wu and Ching. However, it was discovered just as then-president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) second term was coming to an end that the deal with Papua New Guinea had not gone through and that Wu and Ching had kept the funds for themselves. Full story
