Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) was released on bail yesterday after prosecutors asked on Wednesday that he be detained on suspicion of influence peddling in a number of construction projects.
The prosecution on Wednesday asked the Keelung District Court to grant its request that Huang be detained. The request was rejected yesterday and Huang was released on NT$1.2 million (US$40,000) bail, but banned from traveling overseas.
The city council speaker was interrogated on suspicion of his involvement in pressuring Keelung City Government officials on construction projects.
Photo: Wu Sheng-ju, Taipei Times
The prosecutors had found stashes of cash in New Taiwan dollar and Chinese Renminbi with an estimated total value of about NT$5 million in Huang’s office on Tuesday.
The investigation team had immediately called for Huang’s financial records, suspecting the wads of cash to have been bribes, but Huang claimed that the money is his election campaign fund.
Huang is the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate for the year-end Keelung mayoral election.
KMT spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said yesterday morning that since Huang is currently not in detention, which would have cost Huang his KMT party membership and with it his candidacy, “there is no question about using party discipline at this stage.”
However, the KMT might still lose its prospective Keelung mayoral aspirant, as the prosecutors lodged an appeal yesterday immediately after the court granted Huang bail.
The party said it would take measures to adjust to later developments in the case. If Huang is taken into custody, measures could include him being subjected to party discipline or his party membership being revoked, the party launching another primary or enlisting other possible candidates.
Former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) has been rumored to be one of the possible replacements.
Lo has caught the media’s attention by saying on Facebook, writing about the matter, that “there is no such thing as a definite candidate.” However, he declined to be specific on whether this “definite candidate” refers to Huang or himself.
While Charles Chen refused to comment on the expected impact or potential harm to the KMT’s election effort incurred by Huang’s case, KMT Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) was explicit in expressing his worries.
“The prospects are not looking good. So the party would definitely deal with it, rather than leaving decisions to [Huang’s] personal will and causing further damage to the party,” Liao said.
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS