The Taiwan High Court yesterday overturned a district court’s decision to release Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) on bail, and ordered a new bail hearing to decide on whether to detain Chao in the investigation of allegations that he bribed a Taoyuan County official in connection with a development project.
The judges summoned Chao and Farglory manager Wei Chun-hsiung (魏春雄) to attend a hearing at 8:30pm and the hearing was still on going as press time last night.
The hearing followed the High Court’s decision earlier yesterday which, in response to an appeal filed by prosecutors, sent the matter back to the Taipei District Court, saying the lower court’s decision on Saturday to release Chao and Wei on bail was not well-grounded.
The high court said that the sum of NT$5 million (US$166,400) set as bail for Chao and NT$1 million for Wei were not enough to prevent them from fleeing the country.
The high court added that Chao called a meeting to discuss the matter with his executives after being released on bail on Saturday, suggesting that they might have an intention to conspire to pervert the course of justice.
Chao is being investigated on allegations of paying a bribe of NT$16 million, via an intermediary, Tsai Jen-hui (蔡仁惠), a retired professor, to then-Taoyuan County deputy commissioner Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文) to win a local government building contract.
Yeh previously served as director-general of the Construction and Planning Agency (CPA)
In the investigation, Tsai and Yeh — who was dismissed from his position as Taoyuan county deputy commissioner after prosecutors on Friday raided his office and residence as part of an investigation into the possible corruption — were both taken into custody on Saturday.
In the Friday morning raids, investigators seized NT$17 million in cash from Yeh’s home in Taipei and about NT$1.12 million in cash from his office in the county government.
Tsai allegedly picked up the money from a Farglory office in Taipei under instruction from Chao and Wei, investigators said.
Farglory secured the affordable housing project in Bade (八德) with a bid of NT$1.3 billion and on May 8 signed a contract with the county government.
Prosecutors said that they are investigating another case of suspected corruption allegedly involving Yeh.
Investigators said that during questioning, Tsai accused Chao of bribing Yeh to obtain another government housing project in New Taipei City’s Linkou (林口) in 2012, when Yeh was director-general of the Ministry of the Interior’s CPA.
Meanwhile, in response to the alleged bribery case, Minister of the Interior Chen Wen-jen (陳威人) said yesterday that the ministry would launch a probe into development projects handled by Yeh during his term as the head of the CPA.
“During Yeh’s term as the CPA’s director-general, he has handled several projects, including the construction of social housing complexes in Fujhou (浮洲) region and in Banciao (板橋) and Linkou districts in New Taipei City,” Chen said. “I have ordered a probe into those projects and will not hesitate to refer the case to the judiciary if anything illegal is discovered.”
Amber Shyu (徐玉紅), a resident of the Linkou project site who has been resisting forced eviction for nearly a decade, said she hopes investigators will work independently to dig out unlawful conduct involved in the project, so that the people can live happily and peacefully in their homes.
“If there are no greedy officials, corporations will not be able to do anything they want using money, and there would not be so many innocent people forced out of their homes and villages wiped out from the map,” she said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
RSS