Former Taipei City Government Department of Finance commissioner Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) and four others were indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday for breach of trust and other charges over alleged misconduct during the bidding process for the Taipei Twin Towers project.
A consortium led by Taipei Gateway International Development Co (太極雙星) won the tender in October last year with a bid of NT$70 billion (US$2.4 billion), but lost the rights to the project in February when it failed to put up a NT$1.89 billion performance guarantee by a deadline.
The prosecutors’ office said Chiu had been charged with breach of trust, while consortium chairman Michael Ho (何岳儒), company spokesman Wang You-jen (王佑仁), contractor Cheng Hung-dao (程宏道) and former Taipei City Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) official Jia Er-ching (賈二慶) were charged with fraud and forgery.
Photo: CNA
Prosecutors recommended that the Taipei District Court give them heavy sentences.
Prosecutors said Cheng and Jia forged the company seals of Malaysia-based IGB Corp Bhd and Mid Valley City Sdn Bhd and used them in its contract with DORTS, which said the two companies had joined the consortium.
The consortium also made forged documents that said Japanese developer Mori Building had joined it, which Mori said was false, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the consortium provided false documents to the Taipei City Government and the 17 members of a committee reviewing the bid in the knowledge that it had no capability to handle such a project, but planned to win the bid and then sell shares in the consortium and hand most of the project to other companies to make illegal profits.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) said the city government respected Chiu’s indictment.
Hau has repeatedly vouched for Chiu’s innocence since the bribery allegations surfaced in February. He maintained a low-key stance on the issue yesterday and said the city government would determine the future of the project after it had received a report on the indictments.
The project has been stalled since Taipei Gateway International Development Co failed to provide the performance bond in February.
The city government has been negotiating a new contract with second-placed bidder BES Engineering Corp (中華工程) amid concerns that the project could be canceled or a new bidding process be initiated.
Hau has said the city government would proceed with the project unless prosecutors confirm that the bidding process was illegal.
Chiu defended himself in a written statement, criticizing prosecutors for fabricating crimes and damaging his reputation.
He said the bidding process was handled by DORTS and the finance department had checked the financial records of the consortium before listing it as a legitimate bidder, adding that as just one of the 17 committee members reviewing the bid, he had little influence in the bidding process.
“I did not play a leading role in the bidding process. Besides, 16 out of 17 review committee members gave the consortium the highest score based on their own assessments. I had no control over their decisions,” he said.
He dismissed concerns about his frequent contacts with Ho and Wang, insisting that he was eliminating obstacles for investors to facilitate the project in a “partnership.”
“Prosecutors mistook my proactive approach in promoting public construction projects as acts to profit private investors. This is a blow against all government officials who are responsible for public construction projects,” he said.
Taipei City Councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), a former aide to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), has also been indicted over her alleged involvement in the corruption allegations.
Taipei City councilors across party lines yesterday urged the city government to nullify the project, with Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chiang Chi-ming (江志銘) saying that Chiu’s indictment proved the bidding process was illegal and that it should be nullified.
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