TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A fugitive was repatriated back to Taiwan Wednesday after hiding in the United States for almost 17 years, becoming the first criminal sent back by U.S. authorities since the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1979.
Ho Hsiu-chen was read her legal rights at the door of the plane that had carried her back from the United States, before she was handcuffed by Bureau of Investigation (BOI) agents at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at about 8 a.m.
Ho remained silent and did not respond to reporters' questions as she was escorted away from the airport.
Ho was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1999 for her role as an accessory to her husband, Hsieh Kuei-lin, a former chief of Gongguan Township in Miaoli County, in a corruption case.The wife fled Taiwan to avoid imprisonment, and a warrant for her arrest was issued in September 1999.
The husband, who was given a 14-year sentence for his involvement in a kickback scandal related to a road construction project, also fled overseas in 1999 but was repatriated back to Taiwan from Indonesia in 2006.
According to the BOI, Ho arrived in the United States on a tourist visa, and hid in Los Angeles.She got a student visa by enrolling in the University of the West, set up in Rosemead, California by the Taiwan-based Fo Guan Shan Buddhist group. She recently received her doctoral degree in religious studies from the university.
The BOI learned that her student visa expired in 2014, but she did not apply to extend her stay in the United States.The BOI said it then reported her to the U.S. immigration authorities for her illegal stay.
Ho was arrested and detained in November 2015. A U.S. immigration court later ruled that she be repatriated back to Taiwan. Chu Cheng-sheng, a senior officer at the BOI's international division, said the case marks the first time the bureau had worked with U.S. immigration and customs authorities to successfully repatriate criminals to Taiwan from the United States.
Chu, thanking the U.S. government, said the bureau hopes Taiwan fugitives hiding in the United States can be repatriated via such cooperation between the two sides.
There is no extradition agreement between Taiwan and the United States.
Many high-profile Taiwan fugitives have been hiding in the United States, including a former colonel, Liu Kuan-chun, of the National Security Bureau who has been wanted for his alleged involvement in a slush fund scandal.
Another fugitive, Wang You-theng, founder of the now collapsed Rebar Group, was killed in a car crash last month after hiding in the United States for almost a decade. Wang had been accused of embezzling huge sums of money from Rebar's subsidiaries.