Taipei - Authorities searched the home of a Singaporean accused of embezzling Taiwan's million-dollar diplomatic fund, as the scandal has begun to implicate more Taiwanese officials.

On Saturday evening, prosecutors searched the home of Wu Shih-tsai and seized a document on Taipei's plan to convince Papua New Guinea (PNG) recognize Taiwan - instead of China - in exchange for 30 million US dollars, press reports said.

At a news conference early Saturday, Wu claimed he was trying to help Taiwan and had not embezzled any of Taiwan's money.

Prosecutors barred Wu, who has married a Taiwan woman, from leaving Taiwan. Police were providing him 24-hour protection after he claimed that two men had threatened to shoot him if he die not leave Taiwan immediately.

The diplomatic bungle occurred in 2006 when Taiwan's Foreign Ministry asked Wu and US passport-holder Ching Shu-ju to persuade PNG to drop China and recognize Taiwan in exchange for 30 million US dollars in aid.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry remitted 29.8 million US dollars into Wu and Ching's joint account in Singapore's OCBC bank, after deducting 200,000 dollars as a working fund for the pair.

Wu and Ching were asked to withdraw the fund only after the deal had succeeded, but were required to return the money to Taiwan should the deal fail.

In December 2006, Taipei asked Wu and Ching to end the stalled talks and return the money. When diplomats escorted the pair to Singapore to withdraw the money, Ching fled from a hotel and Wu was brought back to Taiwan to face prosecution on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust.

Wu claimed he was the scapegoat because Ching embezzled the money. He also said Ching asked him to tell the foreign ministry that PNG was demanding 40 million US dollars' aid from Taiwan, meaning Ching wanted to pocket the extra 10 million US dollars.

Prosecutors have questioned Foreign Minister James Huang as well as Vice Premier Chiou I-jen and Deputy Defence Minister Ke Cheng-en who introduced Wu and Ching to Huang to negotiate the diplomatic deal with PNG, an island state in the South Pacific.

Press reports said prosecutors are probing whether it is a diplomatic bungle, or a money-laundering fraud with some Taiwan officials seeking a chunk of the secret fund.

The government had kept the scandal secret until Thursday, when Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao reported Taiwan's case against Wu and Ching in a Singapore High Court. (dpa)