The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday urged the judicial authorities to launch an investigation into Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) for allegedly profiting certain performance companies and individuals when staging a rock musical to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China.
The two-night presentation of the musical, Dreamers, cost more than NT$215 million (US$7.15 million), DPP spokesman Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) told a press conference yesterday.
The project was divided into 13 bids, of which six were restricted bids totaling NT$180 million to evade the Public Procurement Act (政府採購法), Chuang said.
Photo: Liao Hui-tung, Taipei Times
Winners of those bids were almost the same group of winners of bids related to Taipei’s Deaflympics in 2009 and the Taipei International Flora Expo, a pair of projects Sheng was also in charge of, Chuang said.
The “creativity design project” portion, which had a NT$39 million budget, was not put up for public auction.
It went to Performance Workshop Theatre founder Stan Lai (賴聲川), who has now drawn public attention to his role in the case, Chuang said.
DPP spokesperson Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑) said that minutes of a March 21 meeting of the Taiwan Association of Theater Technology showed that the association, which is closely linked with Lai’s company, said it “would win the bid and could collaborate with other groups on the project,” despite the bidding not opening until April 20.
At least two executive members of the association are employees of the Performance Workshop Theatre, Liang said, adding that the association and Lai’s workshop had received close to NT$100 million of the total budget of NT$215 million.
“As the CCA minister, Sheng has evaded the law by dividing the bids and favoring Lai in the bidding process. He should be held accountable for an act of corruption,” Liang said.
It was suspicious that the prices of six of the 11 bids were the same as the base prices, while another only came in at a NT$300 difference, DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said, adding that the way the money was spent was “nightmarish.”
With more than half of the bids restricted, the council could have violated the Public Procurement Act, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) said, adding that prosecutors should launch a full investigation into the case.
At a separate setting yesterday, DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that compared with the musical, which cost more than NT$215 million, the central government’s annual budget for a sponsorship program providing nutritional supplements to 42,643 disadvantaged children three days a week was only about NT$9 million per year.
In response to the allegations of wrongdoing, Sheng told a separate press conference that all matters concerning the musical were conducted in accordance with procedures.
Sheng said he had asked the council’s Department of Government Ethics to submit all relevant information to the judiciary for an investigation, adding that he would refuse to dance to the opposition’s tune by commenting further on the matter.
Additional reporting by staff writer, with CNA
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique