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
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2