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.
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