The deportation of 32 Taiwanesetelecom fraud suspects from Malaysia to the Chinese mainland onSaturday complies with the international law and will help betterfight crimes, experts have said.
A total of 97 suspects implicatedin more than 100 major telecom fraud cases across the mainland,were repatriated, including 32 from Taiwan. All the victims of thefraud trap are mainland residents.
Wherever the criminals are, themainland has territorial jurisdiction over these cases as theresults of the fraud happened on the mainland, said Li Juqian,deputy head of the International Law School under China Universityof Political Science and Law (CUPL).
“It is in accordance with theinternational and mainland law that Malaysia deported the suspectsto the mainland. The move is unchallengeable in terms of law,” Lisaid.
China’s law enforcement agencieshave cooperated with their counterparts in countries like thePhilippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in cracking down on telecomfrauds since 2011, according to Ma Chengyuan, a law professor withthe CUPL.
Given diplomatic relations andextradition treaties that China established and inked with thesecountries, as well as criminal justice pacts signed with some ofthem, China can cooperate with them if crimes are committed there,no matter suspects are from the mainland or Taiwan, Ma said.
In late March, Malaysian andChinese mainland police cooperated in destroying five telecom frauddens located in Malaysia, and nabbed 117 Chinese suspects,including 65 from the mainland and 52 from Taiwan.
Among those from Taiwan, 20 weretransferred to Taiwan authorities on April 15. The mainlandgovernment requested Malaysia to transfer the rest of the suspectsto the mainland.
The mainland used to transferTaiwanese suspects to Taiwan, which was in compliance with therelevant cross-Strait agreement and no more than an internaldivision of work, Ma said.
As stipulated by the mainland’sCriminal Law, the mainland enjoys territorial jurisdiction overtelecom fraud cases based overseas and targeting mainland legalpersons and residents, as the results happen on the mainland.
Considering the comparative lighterpunishment that telecom swindlers face in Taiwan, experts said,repatriating Taiwanese suspects to the mainland and trying themaccording to mainland laws will help better fight crimes andprotect legitimate rights and interests of people across theStrait.
Telecom frauds could face a maximumprison sentence of five years in Taiwan, while the maximum is lifesentence on the mainland, said Fan Chongyi, professor from theCUPL’s Procedural Law Research Institute.
“Telecom fraud has been on the riseand done great harm to the interests of mainland legal persons andresidents. Suspects who were sent back to Taiwan were given lenientsentences or even acquitted. Many of them later resumed swindling,”Fan said.
Malaysia deported the suspects tothe mainland “solely for the need to fight crimes,” law expert ChenJingtian said. “It is completely unnecessary to politicize themove.”
The 97 repatriated suspects are nowbeing held at a detention center in the southern city of Zhuhai,according to Zhang Jun, a senior investigator from the Ministry ofPublic Security.
Sending the suspects back to themainland will help the police obtain evidence and investigatethoroughly into the case, Zhang said.
In a telecom fraud syndicate, rolesare clearly divided, with members posing as postal clerks, deliverypersons, telecom company employees, police officers orprosecutors.
“Some members are tasked withrecruiting, maintenance support or acquiring information ofvictims,” Zhang said.
It will be very difficult to findout how the syndicate is structured and fraud is committed ifinterrogation is not conducted at a same place, Zhang noted.
Repatriating all the suspects tothe mainland will help form a chain of evidence, Zhang said, as theinvestigation and obtaining of evidence need to take placeprimarily on the mainland, with the evidence to be crosscheckedwith statements of the suspects and victims.
Moreover, criminals could faceharsher penalty on the mainland than in Taiwan and thus be deterredfrom repeating crimes, Zhang stressed.
Taiwan laws impose lighterpunishment on telecom fraud, thus making it a lucrative businessand encouraging more to participate, according to Zhang.
The main reason that a Taiwanesesurnamed Hsu, who is one of the telecom fraud suspects deportedfrom Kenya to the Chinese mainland earlier in April, said the mainreason that he could not quit telecom swindle is that “money comeseasy and punishment is light.”
“If I could have known I would bedeported to mainland this time, I would definitely be too afraid todo this [swindle],” said Hsu, who was sentenced to seven months inprison the first time he was caught by Taiwan authorities.
“If Taiwan imposed harsh penalties,telecom fraud would not be so rampant in Taiwan,” said anotherTaiwanese suspect, surnamed Lin, deported from Kenya. Endi
