Taiwan Delegation Visits Beijing Detention Center, Discusses Telecom Fraud Issue

The delegation of senior judicial officials from Taiwan arrives in Beijing on April 20, 2016, for a telecom fraud case involving 45 suspects from Taiwan. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

A delegation from Taiwan has visited telecom fraud suspects being held at a detention center in Beijing.

The delegation of senior judicial officials from Taiwan arrived in Beijing on Wednesday saying that they hoped to find a means to jointly examining the cases and guarantee the rights of those who have been arrested.

CRI's Li Jianhua takes a closer look at the latest developments in fraud case.

It is estimated that fraud syndicates led by suspects from Taiwan are causing losses of some 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to mainland victims each year.

Police from the mainland and Taiwan have been working together to arrest more than 7,700 fraud suspects, about 4,600 of whom are from Taiwan.

In many of the cases handled in Taiwan, mainland victims were unable to recover their losses. So far only 32,000 U.S. dollars have been recovered.

To the frustration of victims and the authorities, some suspects have been released as soon as they returned to Taiwan and resumed their criminal activities.

Earlier this month, 77 fraud suspects were deported by Kenya to Beijing, 45 of them come from Taiwan.

The detentions prompted Taiwan to send a delegation to Beijing to discuss the issue.

On Thursday morning, the delegration visited the Beijing Haidian detention center, and watched the questioning process by video, and were brought up to date with the case details.

Chen Wen-chi is the head of the delegation. She said she is satisfied with the treatment of the suspects.

"The center has made special arrangements to meet our requests in keeping with the relevant rules of the Chinese mainland. We have acquainted ourselves with the conditions of the suspects from Taiwan in the center. They are well, and have adapted to the life here all right."

The cases of those deported from Kenya, and the recent release of suspects in Taiwan who have been sent back from Malaysia, has prompted heated debate, with growing calls for justice for the victims of fraud.

Chen Shiqu, vice inspector of Ministry of Public Security, has confirmed that all suspects will be tried on Chinese mainland.

"This criminal gang set up branches in Kenya to target at people of the Chinese mainland. All the victims are in the Chinese mainland and some suspects are also people of the Chinese mainland. We will carry out investigations and file lawsuits based on the laws of the Chinese mainland."

Chen says the 45 Taiwan suspects have already "admitted their guilt.

Wang Jianxin, director of the Haidian detention center, said human rights of the suspects will be assured.

"If they have hired lawyers, then they can come for help. If they don't employ lawyers, we will offer legal aid to them including legal consultation. We have a remote legal consultation service. If they are not familiar with the knowledge of the law, we have a remote room for them to consult lawyers for remote help. If they need lawyers after consultation, we have legal aid."

Wang says the suspects are held in 45 different rooms to prevent collusion and have access to lawyers.

In a separate development on Thursday, 18 fraud suspects repatriated from Malaysia were re-arrested in Taiwan. Two others have been banned from leaving the island less than a week after being released due to lack of evidence.

Prosecutors say they have obtained evidence from Malaysia, sufficient to impose compulsory measures on the suspects.