Lafayette scandal's Kuo Li-heng dies at 73

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Kuo Li-heng (郭力恆), a former Navy captain who was sentenced to 20 years behind bars for his involvement in the Lafayette frigate and minesweeper procurement scandals and released in June 2015, died of cancer at the age of 73, sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed Thursday night.

Kuo graduated from the Naval Academy in the late 1970s. In 1993 when he was an officer in the Navy's Weapons Procurement Office, Kuo was arrested on suspicion of having had a role in the murder of his former boss, Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓), which remains unsolved.

At the time, the Navy was pushing forward procurement projects for France's Lafayette-class (Kang Ding-class) frigates and minesweepers. Kuo was accused of accepting bribes from arms broker Andrew Wang (汪傳浦), the Taiwan representative of the French arms dealer Thomson-CSF, and acting as an insider to facilitate the deal. He was imprisoned in 1994.

Kuo served a 20-year prison sentence and was fined NT$200 million (US$6.83 million). He was paroled at the end of 2013 but, unable to pay the hefty fine, was sent back to serve an additional 180 days in lieu of payment in late 2014. He was finally released in June 2015.