Arms dealer Wang Chuanpu A took the national treasury with principal and interest of about 950 million U.S. dollars. The Chinese court ruled to confiscate Wang’s 480 million U.S. dollars in assets, and requested Switzerland and other countries to freeze the illegal funds. After many years of recovery, the first confiscated more than 11.03 million U.S. dollars (approximately 329.86 million Taiwan dollars), which has been remitted to the special account of the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office.

(File photo, synthesized by this newspaper)

[Reporter Qian Lizhong/Taipei Report] The Ministry of National Defense purchased 6 Lafayette ships from the French company Thomson in 1989. The then Navy Colonel Guo Liheng colluded with the arms dealer Wang Chuanpu to receive huge kickbacks. Chang Yin Qingfeng was killed, Wang's family left the country with money, and Guo was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Chinese court ruled to confiscate the Wang family's assets of 480 million U.S. dollars, and requested Switzerland and other countries to freeze the illegal funds. Prosecutor’s Office Special Account.

Beijing Procuratorate: Continue to pursue other criminal proceeds of Wang Chuanpu and others

The Beijing Procuratorate stated that the successful recovery of the illegal proceeds of the Wang family in Liechtenstein can be said to be a big step forward for the case. Wang Chuanpu and others still have other criminal proceeds in Switzerland and other countries, and the Beijing Procuratorate will continue to recover them through mutual legal assistance. , To completely deprive criminals of their illegal gains, in order to meet the expectations of the Chinese people for fairness and justice.

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In this case, in February 2002, the Attorney General submitted a request for mutual legal assistance to Liechtenstein. Until September 2006, the countries agreed to provide mutual legal assistance and freeze the bank assets of the relevant defendants in the countries.

In September of the same year, the prosecutors of the Beijing Public Prosecutor’s Office charged Wang Chuanpu’s family, including Wang’s wife Ye Xiuzhen and their children Wang Jiayong, Wang Jiaming, Wang Junling, and Wang Jiaxing, as well as the accomplice Guo Liheng and his brother Guo Wentian. Prosecuted for violations of the Corruption Prevention Act and the Money Laundering Prevention Act.

Among them, the two defendants, Guo Liheng and Guo Wentian, were convicted in April 2014. In April 2015, the Beijing Procuratorate returned Switzerland to my country in advance. US dollars (approximately NT$1.1 billion) were handed over to the national treasury.

As for the six members of Wang Chuanpu's family, they fled abroad and refused to appear in court for trial, and were issued as wanted in 2009; Wang Chuanpu died of illness in the UK on January 20, 2015.

Regarding the confiscation of Wang Chuanpu and his family’s criminal proceeds, the special investigation team of the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office originally dealt with it in accordance with the amended criminal law confiscation regulations, and applied to the court on July 1, 2016 for a separate announcement of the confiscation of criminal proceeds. After the special investigation team was abolished, the case was handed over The Beijing Prosecutor, the North Prosecutor, appointed prosecutors to recover the proceeds of crimes committed in the Wang case from Switzerland and other countries.

The Supreme Court has successively ruled in 2019 and 2020, announcing the confiscation of US$487,192,808.72 (the amount of interest is still being returned to the High Court for trial).

During 2021 and 2022, the Ministry of Justice requested the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the representative office in Switzerland to submit requests to various countries for the return of Wang Chuanpu and others' criminal proceeds, and finally recovered US$11,033,596,000 transnationally today.

Wang Chuanpu's widow and children were dissatisfied with my country's recovery of criminal proceeds in Wang's case, and petitioned for the "New System of Confiscation" of the Criminal Law to be retroactive to the unconstitutional case. The Constitutional Court declared it constitutional on December 2 last year.

The Ministry of Justice emphasized that the purpose of the new system of confiscation is to prevent anyone from profiting from crimes, so as to realize the judicial justice that the people feel. Withhold the proceeds of crime and put an end to any flukes.

The whole case originated from 1989 to 1991. The Ministry of National Defense purchased 6 Lafayette ships from the French Tomson at a price of 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. 82.32 million US dollars, and 209.34 million francs in commissions.

After Yin Qingfeng was killed in 1993, Wang Chuanpu and Ye Xiuzhen laundered the money into multiple companies, and fled the country with their children Wang Jiayong, Wang Jiaming, Wang Junling, and Wang Jiaxing, living a luxurious life overseas.

Guo Liheng was sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption and was released in 2013.

After Wang Chuanpu died of illness, in order to recover his criminal proceeds, my country amended the law to retroactively confiscate it, and applied to the countries where the stolen money was located, including Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria, Jersey, and the Isle of Man, to freeze the criminal proceeds and interest totaling more than 960 million US dollars, of which 480 million were confiscated by a Chinese court ruling, and Switzerland agreed to return 266 million US dollars to my country the year before last.