Taiwan indicts 62 over suspected scam centre operator Prince Group
The Straits Times
Authorities in Singapore and Hong Kong have also seized assets or detained individuals linked to the Prince Group. Read more at straitstimes.com.
TAIPEI - Taipei prosecutors on March 4 indicted 62 people linked to the Prince Group, a multinational network accused of running a vast network of scam centres, including the company's chairman who was arrested and deported to China from Cambodia earlier in 2026.
Chen Zhi, who founded the conglomerate the US alleges is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud and money laundering operation, was pictured by Chinese state media hooded and handcuffed as he was led off a plane at a Beijing airport in January.
Taipei prosecutors said in a statement that Taiwan was one of the locations where Chen had funnelled illicit funds via shell companies, buying luxury goods, sports cars and real estate.
"This was done to conceal and disguise the source and flow of the criminal proceeds," it said.
The funds remitted into Taiwan from overseas by members of the group for alleged money-laundering purposes totalled around NT$10.8 billion (S$434.7 million), where they bought 24 properties, 35 vehicles, and held NT$55.53 million in other assets such as cash, designer bags, and shoes, the statement said.
More than NT$5.5 billion in assets have been seized in Taiwan, the prosecutors' office added.
The pipeline had been shut down since 2015, after one of the worst oil spills in state history. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Two French nationals and an Italian were arrested. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The outbreak is believed to be linked to a nightclub in Canterbury. Read more at straitstimes.com.
March 17 - U.S. President Donald Trump accused some Western allies of ingratitude after several countries rebuffed his demand to send warships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran continued to target oil facilities in the Gulf. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Officials have unveiled a series of price hikes across a range of local transport. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The panel will aim to prevent leakage of critical technologies and intelligence. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Mr Trump has enjoyed keeping allies and adversaries guessing about his travel plans. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Although firefighters brought the blaze under control, smoke was still rising from the burned peatland. Read more at straitstimes.com.
A Pakistani airstrike purportedly hit a drug rehabilitation hospital in Kabul, killing civilians. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The US President has long employed ambiguity as a strategy to appease differing factions in his political base. Read more at straitstimes.com.
Mr Xi Jinping told Mr Trump in February that arms sales to Taiwan must be handled with “prudence”. Read more at straitstimes.com.
It could cut fuel subsidies or slash spending on the President's signature school meals programme. Read more at straitstimes.com.
This is in response to a much-criticised juvenile judicial reform expected to take effect in July. Read more at straitstimes.com.