Some 70 elected local officials from the borough warden level up have been indicted since June in the government's war against "black gold," according to newly released statistics from the Ministry of Justice.
Meanwhile, prosecutors yesterday continued to question possible suspects and conduct raids in connection with several cases.
The chief of Lukang township (鹿港), Changhua County, was questioned about suspected bid-rigging in a local park construction project, but they later released him on NT$1 million bail.
In a separate case concerning an embankment construction project, prosecutors raided the town hall of Tacheng township (大城), Changhua County, and took some officials in for questioning. As of press time no detention or releases had been reported.
In Taichung County, prosecutors searched the home of the Shalu (
Among the approximately 70 people already under indictiment are one county commissioner, one city mayor, seven township chiefs, seven borough wardens and village chiefs, two legislators, 24 county councilors and 26 township councilors.
The county commissioner is Fu Hsueh-peng (
George Chang (張燦鍙), DPP mayor of Tainan, was indicted for allegedly covering up the corrupt practices of his subordinates. The prosecution requested that he be sentenced to 12 years in jail.
Two of the indicted legislators are the KMT's You Hwai-yin (
Last Friday, Changhua District Prosecutors' Office indicted 215 people involved in vote-buying for KMT candidates in the March presidential election, including Yuanlin township (
On the same day, Taitung County prosecutors indicted 19 current and 22 former county councilors, including the incumbent speaker and vice speaker, on corruption charges. Taitung County Council has a total of 29 councilors.
Last month, the township chief and all 13 councilors of Huwei township (
Nantou County Commissioner Peng Pai-hsien (
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that