The Taipei District Court ordered a former principal of the Jin-Wen Institute of Technology (景文技術學院) to be held incommunicado yesterday while prosecutors continue to investigate a financial scandal surrounding the school.
Prosecutors suspect that Lin Tsung-sung (林宗嵩) illegally sold land to the school at inflated prices.
Since Thursday, investigators from the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office have been questioning Lin and several other officials from Jin-Wen and the Ministry of Education.
Although Lin was detained yesterday, prosecutors allowed the school's chief accountant to go on bail of NT$30,000.
Others who were questioned were also released.
In all, prosecutors questioned nine officials from Jin-Wen and the education ministry. At the time of this report, investigators were still talking to witnesses.
The Jin-Wen Institute, a member of the Jin-Wen Group, reportedly bought several plots of land at inflated prices from relatives of the group's head, Chang Wan-li (
The artificially high prices allowed Chang to wring money out of the institute, investigators said.
Lin -- a former principal at the school and Chang's son-in-law -- allegedly helped execute the land purchases.
News reports say the properties were sold to Jin-Wen at twice their market value. In addition, at the time of the sale, the land had been pledged as collateral in other transactions.
Though the institute said it intended to use the purchased land to expand its campus, the property was not ultimately used for that purpose.
The expansion project required the approval of the education ministry, and investigators want to know what role the agency played in the project.
Investigators are also suspicious of the circumstances in which Jin-Wen was upgraded from a "polytechnic" school in 1996 to an "institute of technology."
At the time, the school didn't meet the requirements for the upgrade, investigators allege.
Prosecutors and investigators have also been exploring whether education officials have received bribes from Chang.
The school's financial woes came to light last July after Chang bounced tens of millions of dollars in checks.
Several government officials, including former minister without portfolio Chang Yu-hui (
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from