Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday indicted former deputy secretary-general to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) and numerous Kaohsiung City Government officials for corruption and breach of trust for their alleged involvment in the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal.
"Prosecutors indicted 22 defendants, including officials, a Thai-worker brokerage company staffer and four Thai workers who led the Aug. 21 riot. We are still probing whether officials took bribes from the Kaohsiung MRT construction project," Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝) said yesterday.
Chung said Chen Che-nan and former KRTC vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (
Prosecutors cited evidence of several trips to Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea, as well as "entertainment" paid for by the firm.
Chung said five commissioners from a committee that conducted six public bids for the Kaohsiung MRT construction project in 2002 -- including former director of the Kaohsiung Bureau of Rapid Transit Systems Chou Li-liang (
Chung added that the five commissioners were suspected of breaking a regulation on conducting public bidding by illegally favoring Hwang Chang Building Co (HCBC), because HCBC won an NT$8 billion (US$238 million) contract -- the largest awarded among the six auctions -- even though RSEA Engineering Co had offered a bid that was NT$2.7 billion cheaper.
According to prosecutors, the committee stipulated that any company that won two of the six auctions could not take part in the rest of the bidding, and it was suspected of manipulating the bidding process by holding auctions for smaller projects first.
Chung said that when major contender RSEA Engineering Co won the first two small bids, it was forced out of the game.
Chung added that former director of the Kaohsiung City Government's Bureau of Labor Affairs, Fan Lai-chin (
Chung said that when the Council of Labor Affairs last year received letters saying that MRT workers were being overworked, the council asked the bureau to evaluate whether the MRT needed to hire more domestic workers.
However, Chung added, the bureau did not investigate the matter as the council requested, but instead sent a document to the council saying that the number of workers was sufficient.
Chung said that the general manager of Huapan Co, Yen Shih-hua (
Chung said four Thais working for the Kaohsiung MRT project were held responsible for obstructing the performance of public duties and endangering public safety -- charges stemming from a riot in August.
On Aug. 21, some 300 of 1,700 Thai workers building the MRT rioted over their poor treatment at the hands of Huapan Co, exposing the scandal.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS