Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財), a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member, was indicted yesterday by prosecutors for his alleged involvement in a construction scandal. The prosecutors requested a 12-year prison sentence.
"Hsu has been charged with corruption and violations of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法)," Tainan District Prosecutors' Office spokeswoman Kuo Chen-ni (郭珍妮) told a press conference.
Kuo said Hsu was in charge of a construction bid for a Tainan business center parking lot.
Sun-Yu Construction Co (尚禹營造公司) won the contract with a bid of around NT$190 million (US$5.7 million). The Government Procurement Act only allows for an increase of 50 percent to the successful tender price, or about NT$95 million, but Hsu gave the construction company an additional NT$220 million to complete the work, Kuo said.
Hsu violated the law by favoring the company's bid and authorizing the payment, Kuo added.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan City Councilor Hsieh Long-chieh (謝龍介) broke the scandal last May during a council meeting and then handed details of the case to the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office, accusing Hsu and officials of Sun-Yu Construction of corruption.
Then, last October, prosecutors raided the Tainan City Government building and Sun-Yu offices.
Three Tainan government officials and six officials from Sun-Yu were also indicted yesterday on charges of corruption.
Hsu told reporters that he was innocent. He said the construction project was delayed for years before he took office, so he personally took charge of the case in the hope the project would be completed as soon as possible.
He said the project was clean.
Tainan prosecutors last month decided against indicting Hsu following an investigation into his usage of his mayoral special allowance, with Hsu at the time thanking prosecutors for clearing his name.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
BACK TO WORK? Prosecutors said they are considering filing an appeal, while the Hsinchu City Government said it has applied for Ann Kao’s reinstatement as mayor The High Court yesterday found suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) not guilty of embezzling assistant fees, reducing her sentence to six months in prison commutable to a fine from seven years and four months. The verdict acquitted Kao of the corruption charge, but found her guilty of causing a public official to commit document forgery. The High Prosecutors’ Office said it is reviewing the ruling and considering whether to file an appeal. The Taipei District Court in July last year sentenced Kao to seven years and four months in prison, along with a four-year deprivation of civil rights, for contravening the Anti-Corruption
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
RSS