A Taiwanese colonel, at the centre of a massive spy slush fund scandal, is believed to have sought refuge in Canada, joining a growing list of the world's most wanted who have taken up residence in the country.

The Taiwanese government, on the heels of reports that said Colonel Eric Liu Kuan-chun is hiding in Canada has offered a NT$10 million (about C$400,000) reward for information leading to his capture.

He is believed to have entered the country using a Chinese passport. According to Taiwan's Bureau of Investigation, Liu left Taiwan in September 2000 and went to Shanghai.

He surfaced in Bangkok in January last year and then went to Canada. George Hsu, a spokesman with the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in Ottawa told The Asian Pacific Post that Taiwan's Justice Department has put up the reward.

He described Colonel Liu as 'not dangerous' adding that contact has been made with international police forces for assistance. Whitney Chin, another Taiwanese official in Canada said: "We have no clue if he has applied for refugee status in Canada."

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Col Liu is asked to contact Taiwan's Justice Department. Colonel Liu was in charge of a secret US$100 million fund in Taiwan's spy agency under former president Lee Teng-hui. The fund was established to buy influence with foreign governments, institutions and individuals.

The fund operated from 1994 until 2000 under the National Security Bureau, Taiwan's main intelligence agency, with no legislative oversight.Taiwan's current president, Chen Shui-bian, closed the fund following the disappearance of Colonel Liu, who allegedly embezzled $US5.5 million. Taiwanese officials fear Colonel Liu will be able to provide Chinese intelligence with a potential gold mine of incriminating information about the country's international spy network.

Taiwan declared Colonel Liu one of its most wanted last week just as President Chen was pushing his nation to an independence referendum. Chen's announcement that he wants to hold the vote has caused a big global stir because China has repeatedly warned that such a move could spark a devastating war. Although the Communists have never ruled Taiwan since coming to power in 1949, they insist the democratic island - 100 miles off the mainland's coast - belongs to Beijing.As justification for what he describes as a 'defensive referendum', President Chen said on the weekend that China has aimed 496 missiles at Taiwan and that his country is tired of living under constant threat. "They deployed the missiles to ready an invasion of Taiwan," Chen was quoted as saying at a rally.

A source in Ottawa said Col. Liu is not only on the run with stolen cash but also with a stash of secret documents that show multi-million dollar payments to powerful Taiwan sympathizers in North America that include think tanks, lobbyists and several people in senior positions with the governments of Canada and the United States.

"This information could be invaluable to China in the event of a cross-straits crisis," said the source, a former Canadian spy agency analyst, specializing in Asian affairs.

"I would not be surprised if he walks into some western intelligence agency with the information he is carrying, this has happened before," he said. Details of the secret fund were first exposed by Next Magazine in Taiwan, whose reporters and editors were arrested for violating national security. According to documents obtained by the magazine, the secret fund was the source of multi-million-dollar payments to leaders in Nicaragua, South Africa and Panama as well as former Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.

The documents painted a detailed picture of how Taiwan - a small country of 23 million people - had set up a slick global influence peddling machine to combat the might and diplomacy of its communist adversaries in China. Neither Canada nor the U.S. has diplomatic ties with Taiwan but both nations maintain a close trade and economic relationship with the island nation. Colonel Liu's secret fund helped pave the way for Taiwan to get about two-dozen countries to recognise the island as a sovereign nation.

The payoffs included US$11 million to Panama, which hosted former President Lee in 1997 and US$16 million to Nicaragua to build a pink-and-yellow presidential palace and a Foreign Ministry building. One payment of US$10 million was made to Nelson Mandela after his inauguration as South Africa's first black president. Other payments went to small South Pacific nations.

Also named in the documents obtained by Chinese media were several prominent Bush administration officials reportedly sympathetic to Taiwan.

They include deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Assistant Secretary of State Jim Kelly, State Department intelligence chief Carl Ford, former defence official Kurt Campbell, and Undersecretary of State John Bolton. In Canada, Taiwan pays for Canadian MPs to visit its country under the auspices of a canada-Taiwan parliamentary group.

Some of the world's most wanted who live in your neighbourhood

VANCOUVER

Wanted in Thailand, Rakesh Saxena lives in a luxury False Creek condo. Saxena, arrested in 1996 in Whistler is charged in Thailand with embezzling $88 million Cdn from the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, which led to a 1996 run on the bank's deposits, causing its collapse.

RICHMOND

Wanted in the Philippines Faustino Chingkoe and Gloria Eng Eng Chingko live in a house at Tolmie St. in Richmond with their children. They are wanted by Manila authorities for a multi-billion peso tax scam. The Chingkoes have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying up real estate in Richmond since they moved into Canada

COQUITLAM

Wanted in Mexico, Raul Monter Ortega lives in a Coquitlam condo with his wife. The former Mexican politician is wanted in his homeland on charges of taking part in a $24-million fraud, Monter, 55, who is free on bail, was the leader of the National Action Party, known as PAN, in the state of Nuevo Leon from 1994 to '96.

BURNABY

Wanted in China, Lai Changxing, his wife Tsang Ming Na and their three children live in a Burnaby high rise condo on Willingdon Ave. The couple is accused of running a multi-billion dollar smuggling ring which was protected by a phalanx of corrupt government officials in China. Many associated with Lai have already been executed.