New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Thursday evening accused Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, and the family of his wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), of involvement in illegal gravel excavation along the bank of Yunlin County’s Jhuoshui River (濁水溪).
The Han-Lee family made “astounding profits by looting national resources” when Han was a KMT legislator and Lee’s father, Lee Jih-kuei (李日貴), was a Yunlin County councilor nearly two decades ago, Huang wrote on Facebook.
After receiving tip-offs, Huang said that he investigated the matter and determined that it was more outrageous than Han’s purchase of a Taipei luxury apartment worth NT$72 million (US$2.36 million).
Photo: Fang Bin-chao, Taipei Times
Later on Thursday, Han’s campaign office issued a statement denying that Han had any involvement in illegal activities, or that he used his power as a legislator for personal gain.
Politicians should debate policies and encourage progressive competition in the run-up to elections, rather than launching arbitrary attacks on a candidate’s family, it added.
At a news conference yesterday, Huang showed aerial photographs of the Siluo Bridge (西螺大橋) taken in 1994, 1999 and 2000, saying that Lee Jih-kuei had illegally excavated along the river bank for his company, Da-tong Gravel Co (大通砂石行), when he was a county councilor.
Authorities ordered a halt to the excavation, but Lee Jih-kuei was reluctant to do so, and even planned to build a gravel washing plant nearby, but dropped the plan when it was disclosed by the media, Huang said.
However, Lee Jih-kuei turned to collecting gravel near the river embankment, Huang said, questioning why government funds would be used to construct the embankment when the area was not part of an official flood prevention plan.
An embankment area would be owned by the government, but the user of that area was Lee Jih-kuei’s company, Huang said, adding that the family made illicit profits from exploiting government land.
Separately yesterday, Han said that everything should be handled through the legal process.
He said that, as a presidential candidate, he could not discuss the matter, but that his campaign office would address it.
Ye Yuan-zhi (葉元之), the spokesman for Han’s campaign headquarters, said that Huang has told a “story,” without solid proof.
Huang is manipulating a political issue, as shown by his statement yesterday that he would hold another news conference if Han’s response warranted one, Ye added.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang and Chen Yun
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Democratic nations should refrain from attending China’s upcoming large-scale military parade, which Beijing could use to sow discord among democracies, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Shen You-chung (沈有忠) said. China is scheduled to stage the parade on Wednesday next week to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The event is expected to mobilize tens of thousands of participants and prominently showcase China’s military hardware. Speaking at a symposium in Taichung on Thursday, Shen said that Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) recently met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to New Delhi.
FINANCES: The KMT plan to halt pension cuts could bankrupt the pension fund years earlier, undermining intergenerational fairness, a Ministry of Civil Service report said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ proposal to amend the law to halt pension cuts for civil servants, teachers and military personnel could accelerate the depletion of the Public Service Pension Fund by four to five years, a Ministry of Civil Service report said. Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Aug. 14 said that the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) should be amended, adding that changes could begin as soon as after Saturday’s recall and referendum. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that the fund already faces a severe imbalance between revenue
RSS