The Panchiao District Prosecutors' office yesterday indicted independent lawmaker Wu Tse-yuan (
Wu allegedly received NT$30 million in kickbacks for the project while head of the Taiwan Provincial Planning and Developing Department.
Prosecutors recommended the court sentence Wu to 15 years in jail for the crime and revoke his citizen's rights for seven years. Three other officials in the department were also indicted, with prosecutors requesting sentences from eight to 15 years.
Between 1987 and 1992 Wu and other officials paid a contractor involved in the plant's construction over NT$62 million in design fees even though the company failed to complete its assigned work, prosecutors said.
The indictment also says that Wu and his cohorts manipulated the criteria for contractors awarding the project to selected companies. Wu also inflated the budget of the project from NT$ 2.4 billion to NT$5.138 billion.
The company which conspired with Wu was awarded the contract for NT$4.343 billion and Wu illegally paid the company 30 percent of that total immediately after the contract was signed, the indictment says.
Wu was unable to be reached for comment yesterday.
Wu is currently in the process of appealing a 15-year conviction in another cash-for-favors scandal, in which he was found to have had accepted more than NT$6 million in kickbacks from a company which bid for a pumping station project in 1992.
Wu, who was detained after a trial by the Panchiao District Court in 1996, was granted bail for medical reasons by the High Court in May 1998.
Seven months after his release, the former KMT politician was elected to the legislature -- despite his membership having been revoked by the party, which disapproved of his campaign.
As an enormously powerful politician in the southern county of Pingtung, Wu received widespread attention due to his involvement in the case. Previous court rulings have swung wildly between his favor and that of the prosecutors.
He was previously sentenced to life in prison by the Panchiao District Court, but the sentence was reversed later in higher courts, which then invoked doubts over the impartiality of the court.
Apart from his sentence, Wu's medical parole has also been attacked in light of his run for the legislature. Some critics have called for the lawmaker to be put back in detention.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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