A a deeply private – some might even say mysterious – individual, Bruno Wang rarely courts publicity.
Still, he was willing to pose for `a photograph with Prince Charles in January 2019 at the opening of a health and wellness centre at Dumfries House, part of the Prince’s charitable foundation.
Behind them, a plaque unveiled moments earlier by the Prince prominently records that the centre was ‘made possible by the generosity’ of Mr Wang’s foundation.
What a contrast between this cheery image and another of 54-year-old Mr Wang which now, as then, features on the Taiwanese government’s Ministry of Justice website.
Alongside an appeal for information, Mr Wang’s face looms from what is effectively a wanted poster accusing him of money laundering and being a fugitive from justice.
A a deeply private – some might even say mysterious – individual, Bruno Wang rarely courts publicity. Still, he was willing to pose for a photograph with Prince Charles in January 2019 at the opening of a health and wellness centre at Dumfries House
Though he vehemently denies the allegations, and indeed denies any wrongdoing, Mr Wang – who describes himself as a ‘Chinese philanthropist’ – is only too aware that should he set foot on the island, he would be arrested and put on trial.
Whether this uncomfortable fact is known to Charles and his advisers is unclear, but it is perhaps worth drawing a comparison between Mr Wang’s donation and one from Russian banker Dmitry Leus, highlighted last week by The Mail on Sunday in our ‘cash for access’ revelations that have prompted an investigation at The Prince’s Foundation which has led to Michael Fawcett temporarily stepping down as chief executive. Mr Fawcett says he fully supports the ongoing investigation.
Mr Leus gave £500,000 to the foundation last year only to later learn that its ethics committee had rejected it, apparently because it did not consider the gift appropriate.
Like Mr Wang, Mr Leus was accused of money laundering in his homeland, but the Russian’s conviction was overturned and he was exonerated. Little wonder perhaps that Mr Leus now feels aggrieved, especially as he hasn’t had his money back.
Some might forgive him for wondering why Mr Wang (who, it must be said, was not seeking an honour of any kind in return for his donation) escaped similar treatment.
Mr Wang would argue that he is innocent, stands no chance of a fair trial in his homeland and he, too, is a victim of a vexatious prosecution.
It stems from one of France’s biggest political and financial scandals of modern times, which left a trail of unexplained deaths, nearly half a billion dollars in missing cash and troubling allegations of government complicity.
The scandal centred on a £2 billion arms deal between France and Taiwan, signed in 1991. France agreed to supply Taiwan’s navy with six frigates, a deal which Mr Wang’s arms-dealer father, Andrew Wang, helped broker.
Though he vehemently denies the allegations, and indeed denies any wrongdoing, Mr Wang – who describes himself as a ‘Chinese philanthropist’ – is only too aware that should he set foot on the island, he would be arrested and put on trial
It was beset by allegations of bribery, with Andrew Wang said to have received millions in kickbacks – claims he always denied. His son was said to have provided ‘assistance to [his father] to secure bribes’ – which he adamantly denies.
Andrew Wang left Taiwan in 1993 and never returned. It was said that he disappeared before he was due to be questioned about the murder of a navy captain who was about to blow the whistle on the kickbacks. Wang Snr, who died in 2015, accused the Taiwanese of adding the murder allegation only to improve the chances of his extradition.
At some point, the rest of his family – his wife and Bruno and his three siblings – also moved abroad, settling in England.
Taiwan issued an international warrant for Andrew Wang’s arrest, alleging murder, corruption and breaking defence secrecy laws. Investigators in France and Switzerland looked into at least some aspects of the transactions. In 2001, a BBC report said the Swiss authorities ‘have now blocked several accounts of Mr Wang and his family both in Switzerland and in Luxembourg’.
At the same time, Swiss newspaper Le Temps said the authorities were alerted to the accounts after a bank official in Zurich became suspicious that Mr Wang’s wife and Bruno were moving documents and millions of dollars into several different accounts across Switzerland. According to legal documents in the Cayman Islands, where Bruno now lives, his father once said he could never
