The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday sought a jail sentence of 24 years for Farglory Group (遠雄集團) founder Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) on charges that include bribery and breach of trust in cases involving several public construction projects.
After a four-month investigation, prosecutors yesterday indicted 31 people, including Chao, New Taipei City Councilor Chou Sheng-kao (周勝考) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and former Taipei Department of Finance commissioner Lee Sush-der (李述德).
At 8pm, Chao, considered the central figure in the four cases relating to Farglory Group, was released on a record bail of NT$550 million (US$18.23 million).
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The judge imposed restrictions on Chao’s movement, ordering him to remain within his home, prohibiting him from leaving the country and requiring him to report to his local police station every day.
Besides the Taipei Dome project, which has been mired in controversy and is unfinished due to a halt in construction because of years of legal wrangling, authorities investigated Chao on suspicion of embezzlement of funds from Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽) in 2007 and 2008; and bribery of New Taipei City officials in 2013 to obtain contracts for two real-estate development projects — the rezoning of a former coal mine in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) and a factory in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) — and a series of government urban renewal projects, which were all won by Chao’s Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設).
Prosecutors allege that Chao with his Farglory Group subsidiary companies secured the contracts and land development projects by giving bribes to government officials and people involved in the decisionmaking process through third parties.
Prosecutors requested a sentence of 10 years for Chao for falsifying financial reports and 14 years for bribery, including eight years for paying kickbacks to Chou and other New Taipei City officials in 2013.
Prosecutors are also seeking a 10-year sentence for Chou, who allegedly took and offered bribes for construction projects in Tucheng and Sinjhuang, and a 10-year jail term for Lee for violations in connection with the Taipei Dome project.
Lee has been indicted for financially benefiting Farglory Land Development Co, the main contractor for the Taipei Dome project. He was head of the city’s finance department from 1998 to 2006 when former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was Taipei mayor.
Prosecutors said that Lee represented the Taipei City Government during the contract negotiations for the Taipei Dome project.
“Lee was deceitful and misrepresented his role, and colluded with Farglory, making detrimental decisions against the rights of Taipei residents,” Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chou Shih-yu (周士榆) said.
A number of politicians, city government officials and other Farglory executives were also charged, with prosecutors seeking a nine-year sentence for Hsu Ming-wen (許銘文), former chief executive of the semi-government Taiwan Architecture & Building Center, and laid charges against Hung Chia-hung (洪嘉宏), the former head of the Urban and Rural Development Branch of the Construction and Planning Agency.
Prosecutors sought suspended sentences with probation for 13 defendants who allegedly had lesser roles and who cooperated with the investigation.
Prosecutors have launched a separate judicial probe into Ma in relation to the Taipei Dome project to investigate if he was involved in any financial impropriety or illegal activities during his tenure as Taipei mayor, Chou Shih-yu said.
“Chao and other members of staff have fully cooperated with the judicial investigation. It is regretful prosecutors still decided to charge them. We will continue to work with the judiciary to clarify these cases,” Farglory Group said in a statement.
Additional reporting by 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