A close friend in the US owns an equipment rental company (I’d like to keep things a bit vague at this point for fear of tipping off the thief, so I won’t reveal what kind of equipment it is).
A person who was born in TW but grew up in in the USA rented hundreds of thousand of dollars in equipment from my friend and promptly ran off with it. He did not return it, and disappeared.
A few months later he surfaced in TW, opening a company that now rents this same equipment out to local people. He’s out in the open with this, and with serial numbers and such, my friend can prove that the stuff is his.
What is the best way for my friend to go about getting justice? He’s been compensated already by insurance but he’d like to make this person pay for his crimes, and possibly prevent someone else from being ripped off in a similar manner. Does he need to show up here to file a police report, and are the police here actually capable of catching the criminal?
Thats such a good question! I would love to know how this is handled. My guess is that the authorities would not be interested in dealing with this sort of scenario.
(On a side note,I believe that if the stuff was stolen from the Australia, then for political reasons Australia would not be able to start proceedings with Taiwan, as it would acknowledge that Taiwan is a country)
If he’s been that brazen about it, he probably IS the police. It certainly wouldn’t surprise me if, upon your friend starting whatever proceedings might be possible, the thief gets a mysterious tip-off to lie low for a while.
Maybe he could just get someone to hire the self-same equipment, stick it in a container, and ship it back to the US. Since he has original proof-of-purchase, it should be plain sailing.
What I don’t understand is why, if he reported the equipment stolen and has a record of the thief’s identity, the US border police didn’t stop him leaving the country. So much for that greatly-enhanced security we’ve been hearing about.
Interpol warrants mean Jack Shit in Taiwan, especially if the person has dual or ROC citizenship. Remember this story? High priced stripper got knocked up, lost custody of her kid, and kidnapped the baby and went back to Taiwan. Was treated as a “Daughter of Taiwan” by the DPP.
[quote=“pqkdzrwt”]Thats such a good question! I would love to know how this is handled. My guess is that the authorities would not be interested in dealing with this sort of scenario.
(On a side note,I believe that if the stuff was stolen from the Australia, then for political reasons Australia would not be able to start proceedings with Taiwan, as it would acknowledge that Taiwan is a country)[/quote]
Australia already acknowledges Taiwan is a country just not recognised by the UN nor Australia for diplomatic purposes. This is from a Aus Government about my applicaiton for renunciation of citizenship many years ago to determin if effectively I would have been stateless when applying for ROC Nationality as Australian Government cannlot by law allow someone to renounce Australian Citizenship if they would be stateless. Taiwan is a state, just not recognized by many other countries. Some of the law as applied to my situation in applying for ROC Citizenship. Taiwan is a country.
• Yes. Even though Australia does not recognise Taiwan as an independent State, it is still a “foreign country” for the purposes of the ACA.
It should be noted that the Acts Interpretation Act defines the meaning of “foreign country”. Paragraph 22(1)(f) provides that in any legislation, unless the contrary intention appears, “foreign country” means any country (whether or not an independent sovereign state) outside Australia and the external Territories. This provision recognises that, subject to an indication to the contrary, a place could be a “country” even though it is not an independent sovereign state. The practical result of this definition is that although Australia has not given diplomatic recognition to Taiwan as an independent state, Taiwan is a foreign country for the purposes of s.17
Following this reasoning, even though Australia does not recognise Taiwan as a “country” at a diplomatic level, it is still a “foreign country” for the purposes of s.22 of the AIA and ss.17 and 18 of the ACA. Further, even if a person cannot be said to have Taiwanese “nationality” or “citizenship”, it appears that a person who purportedly holds such a status is to be regarded as a national of the PRC. Therefore, if Mr XXXX was “ordinarily resident” in Taiwan at the time of his declaration, and he intended to become a Taiwanese “citizen”, he falls within the provisions of s.18 of the ACA. His renunciation of citizenship was therefore valid, and so was the Minister’s action in registering that declaration. Mr XXXX is therefore ceased to be an Australian citizen on the date of the registration of the declaration.
Also Australia can and does have bilatral arrangements with Taiwan in other matters. Othwerwise how do you think it is that we have Australian immigraiton and Foreign Affairs staff from Australia posted to Taipei? Passports and Australian Visa’s are issued in Taipei.
Give all the relevent information to the Police and insurance company in the USA. Of course it would help if you actually have photos of the equipment here with the serial numbers to give to the insurance company that the equipment is in Taiwan. Let them follow up. Of course you could try and claim the goods are stolen from the USA with the local police here. Thre would be importation documents and shipping docs customs clearences. They may not list serial numbers though on the inventory. He could have a proxy file the complaint here.
if you’re willing to spend the money (and if Taiwan is a signatory to the relevant treaty on judgments), then you could have a judgment entered in the US (you file a complaint, he doesn’t show up, you submit evidence, and the judge presumably, on the strength of your evidence, enters a judgment in your favour). You then take that judgment to have it enforced in Taiwan by going to the Taiwan court for endorsement.
having said that, not exactly cheap, probably better to have the insurance company take this step.
Thanks for the responses. I hadn’t thought about the insurance company angle. Let me ask my buddy and find out. May take a while–he’s a busy dude.
He did think of renting the stuff and just going back home with it, but he’d have to get someone to do it for him and then would be worried about what the law here would think of that.
I’ll suggest the insurance company angle and the injunction angle. He may have already done that.
Proxies:
Get someone to rent a bunch of it with plans to send it back to the US right away that is only going to be here a short while.
Problem:
What will the insurance company think when he has his stuff reappear? What if he has a Taiwanese court enter a judgement against theft that is enforced in the US.
[quote=“Joschka”]I have read in a couple of different places that the US and Taiwan do not have an extradition treaty so there is probably nothing you can do.
Running around playing vigilantie is dangerous to your health and freedom. I’d suggest you give it up.[/quote]
Sigh. Where I have I written that I am running around playing vigilante? Are you drunk or something? What an idiotic thing to write.
I have a friend who asked me to ask you all for advice on what to do. Full stop. I am not personally planning on taking any action.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Tomas”]
He did think of renting the stuff and just going back home with it, but he’d have to get someone to do it for him and then would be worried about what the law here would think of that.
[/quote]
I bet they might not care for it too much.[/quote]
My friend is a decent person who wouldn’t do anything that is illegal, even if it was morally right to do so, so yeah, he eliminated that option long ago. I was just responding to a suggestion earlier in the thread.
Unfortunately, Taiwan is not a signatory to any relevant treaty on judgments. Rather, the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments by Taiwan courts is determined by application of Article 402 of Taiwan’s Code of Civil Procedure. As a general rule, a Taiwan court will recognize and enforce a final and irrevocable foreign court judgment award or court decision unless such foreign court judgment involves any of the following circumstances:
b[/b] The foreign court has no jurisdiction over the case, as determined under by Taiwan law; b[/b] The losing party defendant is a Taiwan citizen or Taiwan entity that did not respond to the action, except where a summons or order necessary for the commencement of the action was properly served on the defendant in the foreign jurisdiction or was served on said losing party defendant in Taiwan through Taiwan’s judicial assistance; b[/b] The judgment of the foreign court is considered to be incompatible with the public order or good morals of Taiwan (one example of conduct that violates this is when the foreign court does not indicate the reasons for its decision in the judgment); or b[/b] Judgments or court decisions rendered by Taiwan courts are not reciprocally recognized by the courts in the foreign jurisdiction where the judgment or court decision was rendered.
Tomas indicated that his friend is in the US. There is no reciprocity problem with US judgments in Taiwan. The most common obstacle to recognition and enforcement of foreign default judgments in a Taiwan court is the service requirement identified at b[/b] above.
It should be noted that in an recognition proceeding, the Taiwan court is, according to relevant Taiwan law, not supposed to review the investigation of the merits of the claim, which have already been heard and tried by the foreign court. Instead, the Taiwan court is supposed to focus instead on reviewing and determining whether any of the circumstances set forth at Article 402 disqualify the foreign court decision from being recognized and enforced in Taiwan. In practice, however, defendants in Taiwan often repeatedly argue the merits of the claim, which have already been heard and tried before the foreign court, and Taiwan courts often look into these arguments and defenses. This of course adds to the time needed for and expense of obtaining a recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment in Taiwan.
Is it illegal to take your (former?) property that you have receipts for and can thus prove is/was yours and ship it back to the US informing the insurance company of course?
I would speak to the insurance company first. They love these cat and mouse games when they think they can save/make some $$$.
