Compiled by CHOW HOW BAN, RAHIMY RAHIM AND R. ARAVINTHAN
TAIWANESE singer and actor Prince Chiu has been charged with forgery for evading mandatory military service roughly 10 years ago, Sin Chew Daily reported.
The 37-year-old is among 15 people – including actor Darren Wang and rapper Chang Jie-rui – indicted by the New Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday.
Chiu allegedly used the services of Chen Chih-ming, who ran a syndicate helping high-profile entertainers to forge medical records to avoid conscription.
Prosecutors noted that Chiu admitted during questioning that he did not have hypertension and had paid Chen NT$300,000 to fake the condition.
“Prince Chiu expresses deep remorse over his past mistakes. He respects the judicial process and will fully accept the legal consequences,” said his management agency, Magpie Entertainment.
> China Press reported that a man named Li Ming, from Hunan province, received a phone call from the Chinese police while travelling in Malaysia in June.
The 25-year-old said the police demanded that he return to China within three days, or he would be considered a “fraudster” and his household registration cancelled.
To prove his innocence, he flew back to China after backpacking for 10 months in South-East Asia, but several police officers came to his house to question him about his travels abroad.
He said they had promised he could travel overseas again once the issue was straightened out.
Li then applied for a travel permit for Hong Kong and Macau with the immigration department, only to be told he was listed in the system as a “high-risk person suspected of telecom fraud” and barred from leaving the country.
“I am sad and distressed. I can’t leave the country. I can’t even go to Hong Kong or Macau,” he said.
Last month, it was reported that China would introduce stricter controls on people entering and leaving the country from Sept 15, under new State Council regulations covering travel applications, entry and exit restrictions and immigration-related intermediary services.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
