Prosecutors indicted nine people yesterday, including the mayor of Tainan and three Japanese nationals in connection with corruption surrounding construction work on a canal.
George Chang (
Two other suspects, the director of the city's Urban Development Bureau, Tung Mei-chen (
Three Japanese citizens were also charged in absentia with agreeing to pay NT$5 million in bribes. The three have already left Taiwan after having posted bail of NT$200,000 each.
Chang, a former chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence (
"I swear to all Tainan citizens that I did not do anything illegal," Chang said.
"The prosecutors have the power to investigate anything suspected of being illegal, but they will also understand that a mayor has discretion over municipal affairs."
He said the charges were "vague, lacking substance and sheer guesswork."
The indictment states that Hsu made an under-the-table deal with the Japanese company Niken (
It also charges that Hsu and Tung persuaded Chang to change the membership of a city government examination committee to benefit the company.
With Tung's intervention, the Niken bid was sent to the city government after the deadline but still accepted, the indictment says.
In the examination committee, the indictment continues, Chang and Tung unduly influenced other committee members into offering Niken the privilege of first choice for the contract, giving the company the right to negotiate the details of the contract on the basis that rival contractors would only be considered if such negotiations broke down.
After Niken was awarded the contract, Tung interfered with the plans to landscape the canal and helped two businessmen to get the sub-contracts for tree and shrub planting and lighting, the indictment says.
The indictment says that, by overhauling the original design, Tung deliberately set certain limits for categories of plants and construction materials used in the project and exaggerated prices, inflating the budget by nearly 40 percent.
Deputy prosecutor-general of the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office, Chao Chung-Yueh (
"But he has mismanaged the administration of the construction project to unduly benefit certain businessmen. Moreover, although he was aware of Hsu's illegal deal with Niken and Tung's intervention in the project, which caused a waste of public funds, he did not, despite his position as mayor, inform anyone, but instead chose to conceal what was going on," Chao said.
Chang did not accept the accusations. He also questioned the prosecutors' motives.
"The judiciary should not be abused by anybody. In the past when I devoted myself to democratic campaigning, I was accused of treason but finally acquitted. Now, in this case, the prosecutors have requested a 12-year sentence for me without any evidence. I am inclined to doubt their motives," Chang said.
He also said that the indictment was aimed at casting aspersions on his character to prevent his re-election. The next election in Tainan for mayor is in 2001.
During martial law, Chang lived in exile in the US, banned by the KMT authorities from returning to Taiwan. During his exile he was one of the most powerful leaders of the Taiwan independence movement abroad.
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