Taiwan launches investigation in alleged case of arms traffic; case could may be connected to Romania

• A local publication even claims that the brother of president Traian Băsescu is under suspicion of having been involved in repackaging and reselling a huge amount of ammunition that should have been destroyed

Taiwanese authorities have been investigating a possible case of arms traffic which may have possible ties to Romania, after a local publication - the "Next" magazine - reported that even Mircea Băsescu, the brother of Romania"s president, may be involved in repackaging and reselling ammunition.

Over 8,000 tons of grenades, mines and other types of Taiwanese old ammunition, were supposed to be destroyed in Bulgaria, but almost 25% of the ammo was repackaged in Romania and then exported to Angola. Those 1884 tons were acquired by the Romanian part for resale and the entire operation happened last year, journalists of Next claim.

The Taiwan minister of Defense will request information from Explomo, a Singapore based company, which won the contract for destroying the ammunition, said Wang Kuo-pin, director of the Ammunition Acquisitions Center of the Armament Office of the Ministry of Defense. The quoted source says that if the information of published by the Taiwanese journalists are confirmed, the Ministry of Defense will take all the necessary steps for the cancellation of the contract, and will then request the reimbursement of the fees and of the collaterals stipulated in the contract, and will submit a compensation request. Taiwanese authorities are also investigating the possibility of a forgery.

Military Taiwanese traveled to Bulgaria in May to supervise the execution of the contract, which was completed in August, according to Wang.

Bulgarian company Maxam, which handled the destruction of the ammunition, was asked to supply a daily report of the ammunition it destroyed, accompanied by photographs. The Ministry also requested reports from a Taiwan based company as well as a foreign company, that would provide monthly reports on ammunition manipulation.

According to our information, neither Taiwan-based Explomo, nor Bulgarian-based Maxam have any branches in Romania.

In September 2009, journalist Sorin Roşca Stănescu accused Mircea Băsescu, the brother of the Romanian president, of being involved in arms traffic together with Bakri Imad Abdul Reda, who was suspected of ties to terrorist organizations, but later failed to produce any relevant evidence.