THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) is deporting another former high-ranking Taiwanese official who is wanted for fraud in his country.
Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said Wu Chien Pao, 68, was arrested Jan. 16 at the Subic Freeport Zone in Zambales by operatives from the bureau’s fugitive search unit (FSU).
The FSU operatives, headed by BI intelligence officer Bobby Raquepo, arrested the alien based on the request of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Manila.
Morente said TECO had identified Wu as a former government official in Taiwan who held the post of speaker of Tainan County and has been wanted by prosecutors in Taipei for fraud since October 2014.
Taiwanese news outlets describe his crime as “one of the largest issues to hit Taiwanese baseball” after he was accused of fixing results of Chinese Professional Baseball League games involving popular players in his country, in collusion with illegal gambling syndicates.
“He will be deported for being an undesirable and undocumented alien,” the BI chief said, adding that Wu’s Taiwanese passport already expired in April 2017.
Wu was arrested only three days after FSU agents arrested in Pasay City a former Chinese ranking government official wanted by Beijing authorities for graft and corruption.
Xie Haojie, 49, who was arrested in a joint operation by the BI and Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), is allegedly wanted in China over a multi-million dollar embezzlement case. (Jun Ramirez)