New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday urged the Control Yuan to investigate Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) father-in-law, Lee Jih-kuei (李日貴), accusing him of illegally occupying more than 1 hectare of public land in Yunlin County with Han’s help.
“I hope the Control Yuan can answer questions that the National Property Administration could not, including why the family was allowed to illegally occupy public land, run a gravel business there and have taxpayers cover the cost of building an embankment,” Huang told reporters outside the Control Yuan in Taipei.
“Did the government and the business conspire to break the law and abuse their power? How much of that is tolerated?” he asked.
Photo: CNA
Huang on Friday last week said that Datong Gravel Co (大通砂石行), owned by Lee, a former Yunlin County councilor, allegedly obtained control of an area near the Jhuoshui River (濁水溪) in 2000 after Han, then a legislator, lobbied for NT$6.8 million (US$222,900 at the current exchange rate) to build the embankment.
The Lee family had been excavating gravel from the area since 1995 and, as soon as it was registered as public land in 2000, they applied to have it rezoned from agricultural to mining land to benefit the gravel business, Huang said yesterday.
The Yunlin County Government approved the application in just one day, even though the land use change contravened the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法), he said.
The county only fined the company NT$60,000 for illegal use of land and damage to the ecosystem, he said.
Ye Yuan-zhi (葉元之), who is spokesman for Han’s campaign as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, said that Huang has no evidence of wrongdoing by Han.
The only so-called evidence of Han improperly using his influence is records from meetings on the embankment project, Ye said.
“We will not play along, because we know that Huang is doing this to get attention and to promote the NPP,” he said.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
RSS