Lawyer in NT$147 million fraud case jumps bail: Court

Taipei, April 4 (CNA) The Taoyuan District Court recently issued an arrest warrant for Yu Kuang-te (游光德), a lawyer accused of masterminding a NT$147.77 million (US$3.59 million) fraud ring, after he jumped bail, the court said Saturday.

Yu was declared a fugitive on March 25, the court confirmed to reporters, following a report by online media outlet Knews, which reported that Yu might have fled to China via Penghu on March 22, citing anonymous sources.

The court said it was first notified by the Electronic Monitoring Center (EMC) -- the agency responsible for tracking defendants -- at 5:45 p.m. on March 22 that Yu's monitoring bracelet had been removed, triggering an alert at 4 p.m. that day.

The EMC said at the time that the tracking device resumed normal signal transmission after a system reset, but Yu remained unaccounted for, according to the court.

At 10:30 a.m. the following day, the EMC confirmed that Yu's monitoring bracelet had lost communication and the surveillance mobile phone assigned to him had been turned off, leading to the assumption that he had absconded, the court said.

The court said it confiscated Yu's bail of NT$2.5 million on March 24 and filed a complaint against him for jumping bail on March 26, believing him to have fled, though there is no record of him leaving the country.

Yu, 35, was charged on Oct. 24, 2024, with aggravated fraud and money laundering.

Taoyuan prosecutors alleged he led a syndicate involving two Bank of Taiwan employees that defrauded at least 179 victims of NT$147.77 million.

Prosecutors are seeking a 13-year sentence for Yu, and prison terms of nine years and six years for the two bank employees, respectively.

Yu attempted to fly to South Korea on Aug. 27, 2024 -- after Taiwan High Court remanded the prosecutors' detention request to the district court for reconsideration -- but was arrested at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, according to prosecutors.

Although Yu was subsequently taken into custody following that arrest, the district court granted his release on bail two months later, subject to residency restrictions and a ban on overseas travel.

He had been subject to electronic monitoring since February.