A Central Taiwan township chief and several officials from the town hall were brought under investigation for allegedly favoring companies owned by the township chief's brother in more than 80 of the town's construction projects.
Prosecutors and investigators from the Black Gold Investigation Center's Taichung force yesterday searched the residence and office of the chief of Puyen (
A total of 15 people, including town hall officials and businessmen, were taken away for interrogation, prosecutor Lee Ching-yi (
According to the prosecutors, in more than 80 small local construction projects, such as those for roads and sewers, Chen did not follow the regulations that such projects should be contracted by public bidding.
Instead, the deals were decided in behind-the-door meetings of the town hall and certain construction companies -- most of which were owned by the township chief's brother, Chen Chin-tien (
In over 95 percent of the construction projects in question, the prices the companies offered were exactly the same as the maximum allowable price set by the town hall -- which was evidence that there was no public bidding in these projects, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also said, according the results of their investigations so far, the shady dealings started in 1998 and the total amount of money suspected of being involved in these projects is NT$120 million.
As of yesterday evening, Lee said that the prosecution had not yet decided on whether to recommend to the court that Chen be detained.
RSS