Yunlin prosecutors led a team of special agents from the Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation in a raid on Yunlin County Commis-sioner Chang Jung-wei's (
The prosecutors said they suspected Chang might be involved in a bribery scandal regarding the construction of the Linnei Incinerator, which will be completed and begin operating in October.
PHOTO: CHEN TSAN-KUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
"We simply tried to collect more crucial information or evidence that may help us investigate this case. Other than this, please forgive me, but I cannot tell you more," said Tsai Chi-wen (
Two teams of special agents were directed by Tsai and his colleague, Huang Yu-feng (黃裕峰). Tsai's team arrived at Chang's residence in the morning. Although their raid surprised Chang, agents and prosecutors decided to confiscate Chang's day planner, which detailed his recent appointments, four huge boxes of office documents and one of his safes. The raid at Chang's residence lasted for approximately two-and-a-half hours.
While Tsai's team was raiding the commissioner's residence, Huang's team was raiding his office. But prosecutors refused to reveal what they discovered or confiscated at the commissioner's office.
Chang is on his annual vacation, but he was traveling alone, as his wife and children were at home when the investigators arrived.
According to the prosecutor's office, the investigation into alleged bribery began in June, when they received a tip-off from an anonymous Yunlin resident, who claimed that Yunlin government officials -- including Chang -- had accepted a huge bribe during the administrative process for starting construction on the incinerator.
Tsai then began summoning the government officials specificied in the allegations. He began with county Environmental Protection Bureau Director Yen Jia-hsien (顏嘉賢) and the bureau's fifth department chief, Juan Yun-sheng (阮雲生), in June. Yen and Juan were immediately detained after the interrogation, but they were both released without bail last week.
Last month, prosecutors summoned Linnei Township Mayor Chen Ho-shan (
Neither Tsai nor Huang would confirm whether the raid on Chang's residence yesterday was an indication that the commissioner was involved in the scandal.
"We were doing what was necessary. It does not mean we will arrest anybody. It does not mean we are looking for more suspects, either," Tsai said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS