Tainan County Council Speaker Wu Chien-bao (吳健保) and Councilor Lee Chuan-fu (李全富), both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members, were accused yesterday of illegally quarrying sand from the Tsengwen River and earning more than NT$1 billion for selling the sand to construction companies.
Tainan District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Fan Wen-hao (范文豪) said Wu was summoned by prosecutors for questioning and that they asked the court last night to detain him. As of press time last night, the detention order had not been granted.
Prosecutors have not been able to locate Lee. His older brother, KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), yesterday called for his sibling to meet with investigators.
Prosecutors said Wu ran the Tainan-based Fu-hsin Co, which won a public bid in March last year to dredge the channel of the Tsengwen River.
Prosecutors said Lee Chuan-fu had cooperated with Wu on the sand business.
They said the contract called for the company to quarry silt from the river and deepen its channel to 4m. However, they said, the company deepened the channel to 13m, and sold the dredged sand to construction companies while partially filling the channel with earth from the riverbank.
Prosecutors said quarrying had severely damaged the environment and endangered bridges across the river.
The investigation into Wu and Lee Chuan-fu began after Lee was reportedly kidnapped by fugitive Chang His-ming (張錫銘) last month. Fu-hsin Co paid a NT$30 million ransom for Lee. Investigators wondered why Wu and his firm were willing to pay the ransom.
Prosecutors believe Chang kidnapped Lee because he wanted some of the money the county councillor had reportedly made from the sand sales. Chang is on the most-wanted list for his alleged involvement in several kidnapping cases.
Tainan prosecutors led raids on Thursday of the Tainan Bureau of the Water Resources Agency (WRA), the residences of Wu and Lee Chuan-fu, and the dredging site.
Prosecutors said Wu had been tipped off about the raids in advance and so they didn't find him at his home or office on Thursday.
He was picked up last night after police found him in his car near his home.
Investigators are also probing whether Wu bribed a WRA official at the Tainan bureau to win the dredging bid for NT$50 million. Prosecutors said they are also investigating some WRA employees.
Prosecutors have summoned more than 80 people for questioning in the case, including Fu-hsin employees and construction workers.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
RSS