Vice Minister of the Interior Yen Wan-chin (
The former director of the Yangmingshan National Park Service Center, Tsai By-lu (
"Yen behaved suspiciously during the investigation. He might destroy or falsify evidence, or confer with the other defendants if he was able to communicate with them, so the Taipei District Court approved the prosecutors' application to take Yen into custody," Taipei District Court spokesman Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩) said yesterday.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Yen is the highest level political appointee in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to be investigated for corruption.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) accepted his resignation yesterday.
Yen had previously served as deputy DPP secretary-general and the director of the party's Chinese affairs department.
DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the party would soon launch its own investigation into Yen's activities. If it is proven that Yen was involved in bribery, the party will expel him, Yu said.
Yen is a member of the New Tide faction and leader William Lai (
The investigation into Yen centers around the plan to construct a cable car system connecting Beitou with Yangmingshan National Park.
Last December the Rich Development Corp, a construction firm, won a build-operate-transfer bid to construct the cable car system. It proposed building four cable car stations, and the Yangmingshan National Park Service Center granted the firm permits for construction in March. The company began construction work in May.
Soon after the permits had been awarded, however, Taipei prosecutors received complaints alleging that the permits had been awarded illegally and alleging bribery.
Prosecutors said their investigation led them to suspect that Yen knew that the company failed to qualify for the construction permit and needed to improve its proposal and that he asked Tsai to grant the permits anyway.
Prosecutors said they had monitored Rich Development's telephone calls and heard people talk about bribery.
Prosecutors said they had also found it suspicious that Tsai approved permits for a total of 183 hot spring hotels and restaurants to be built around the cable car stations just a few days before he retired from his park job last month.
The permits were granted without environmental impact assessments being conducted, which was illegal, prosecutors said.
On Wednesday prosecutors led a search of 26 locations for evidence, including Yen's office and the Yangmingshan National Park Service Center.
Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government yesterday denied any involvement in the corruption scandal and said that it had followed all regulations in planning and executing the project.
Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), director of the Bureau of Public Works' new construction department, said the original cable car project, which was approved by the Executive Yuan in 1995, included the construction of a cable car system from Qinshui Park (親水公園) in Xinbeitou to Yangmingshan National Park, cable car stations and stores, but did not include the construction of hot spring hotels.
He said the interior ministry had added a training dormitory and hot springs hotel to the project when it issued a bulletin announcing approval of the project, thereby allowing contractors to develop those two kinds of buildings in the area.
"It's the ministry's responsibility to ask the Environmental Protection Administration about the construction of those buildings since it added the two items," Lee said.
While the city government is the supervising agency for the entire project, it actually has little authority because 90 percent of the construction sites are within the national park area, Lee said, putting them under the authority of the Yangmingshan National Park Administration.
Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) stood by his officials yesterday, saying that the scandal had nothing to do with the city government.
The cable-car project was scheduled to be completed next June, but city officials said the corruption probe might delay that timetable.
Additional reporting by Jewel Huang and Jean Lin
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source