TAIPEI // A kidnapped Hong Kong tycoon has been freed in a dramatic rescue after he was held captive for more than a month by criminals who demanded a US$9 million ransom, Taiwan authorities said Wednesday.
Wong Yuk-kwan, chairman of the Hong Kong-listed Pearl Oriental Oil exploration company, was found chained and beaten up Tuesday in a shack in a western Taiwan village after being abducted outside Taipei on September 20, according to authorities.
Television footage of the rescue operation showed the 67-year-old, also known as Wong Kwan, looking frail and frightened as he sat on the floor of a barren room with his feet cuffed.
His face was bruised and he was clutching his legs, which were covered in cuts.
Fifteen people were arrested over the abduction, including a man suspected of masterminding the kidnapping, according to the authorities.
The kidnappers requested a ransom of HK$70m (Dh33.1m) through emails to Mr Wong’s office in Hong Kong and demanded to be paid in virtual currency bitcoins, authorities said.
“We are assisting the Hong Kong police with the investigation on their end as well,” an official from New Taipei City police said, adding that no ransom was paid.
Mr Wong’s company was unavailable for comment.
The businessman, who was in Taipei for medical treatment according to Taiwan media reports, is still facing charges that were brought against him and Pearl Oriental Oil executives in 2013 by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog.
He is accused along with three others of fraud and money laundering relating to the acquisition of an oilfield in the United States.
He has been on a HK$5 million bail since.
Two of the defendants in the case were found guilty in May this year and sentenced to seven years and five years in jail respectively.
Pearl Oriental Oil’s main business is oil and gas exploration and the company is valued at HK$957 million. Its main asset is the oilfield in Utah and it also runs a plastic recycling business, according to its website.
Hong Kong has a long history of kidnaps targeting high-profile members of the business community.
In April, a Hong Kong textiles heiress was abducted and released three days later, after her family paid her captors a ransom of HK$28 million.
Nine people were arrested over the abduction after Hong Kong authorities launched a massive operation to hunt down the suspected kidnappers.
* Agence France-Presse
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The five pillars of Islam
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
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According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
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