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Air Force denies bribery in jet maintenance contract

The Air Force chief of staff yesterday denied allegations of bribery amid media reports that an aircraft subcontractor had received payment after faking maintenance reports last year.

Chinese-language newspapers, including the United Daily News, reported yesterday that the Aero-space Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔公司) had not carried out aircraft checks and maintenance as stipulated in its contract, but nevertheless received NT$70 million (US$2.1 million) in payment.

"I assure you that no bribery was involved," Air Force Chief of Staff Major General Liu Chen-wu (劉震武) told a press conference at the Ministry of National Defense yesterday afternoon, while confirming that AIDC had been remiss on its duties.

Liu said that the Air Force discovered last October that AIDC had not carried out the maintenance checks stipulated in its contract.

The Air Force then immediately grounded all of its AT-3 and T-34 training jets and asked AIDC to complete the work. When the aircraft checks were completed two weeks later on Nov. 21, all the aircraft resumed regular missions after safety checks had been completed, Liu said.

"The case is now under investigation. We will cooperate with prosecutors to uncover the truth and mete out punishment when necessary. We will not shirk our responsibility," he said.

A Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office investigation showed that AIDC became the Air Force Academy's contractor on June 10, 2005. The contract states that AIDC is responsible for regular maintenance work on the academy's 60 AT-3 and 20 T-34 training planes.

The contract, worth NT$3.5 billion, included important structural examinations -- including X-ray checks -- to ensure that the aircraft are safe enough for aerial maneuvers.

An X-ray check scans the structure of a plane to check for metal fatigue, eliminating the need to dismantle the craft.

Kaohsiung prosecutors said that AIDC's X-ray machines were not working, so the company subcontracted the work to Chung-lien Corp (中聯).

Although AIDC did not complete the X-ray checks between July 2005 and last July, it still received NT$70 million from the Air Force, with Chung-lien allegedly helping AIDC fake X-ray reports for the 80 planes, prosecutors said.

On Wednesday, Kaohsiung prosecutors detained Chung-lien head Hu Chin-chu (胡金珠) and technician Fu Chien-sheng (傅健生) on charges of breach of trust.

In response to public concern that the academy's training planes may not be airworthy, the academy assured the public yesterday that its aircraft were fine.

"We immediately grounded our planes after discovering the problems in October and asked AIDC to complete the work," said Colonel Hsiu Chao-chiang (修超強), spokesman for the academy. "We did not resume use of the aircraft until necessary security checks were done. They are in perfect shape now and ready to fly."

Minister of National Defense Lee Tien-yu (李天羽) yesterday said that the ministry would not cancel the contract with AIDC.

"[Outsourcing maintenance] is a good policy. We cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater," Lee said when approached by reporters for comment during a visit to a meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus.

"As the situation is already under control, it's unlikely that the ministry will terminate its relations with AIDC. AIDC reacted to this incident in the right way," he said.

Lee said the ministry would investigate the matter and would not cover up any irregularities.

AIDC has made improvements in its maintenance procedures since last October, he said.

Defending the ministry's policy of outsourcing maintenance, Lee said that the objectives of the program were to develop the nation's aerospace industry and to create job opportunities.

"We can't reverse the policy because of one or two [problematic] cases," he said.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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