City official accused of taking bribes

A Taipei City Government official in charge of funeral affairs has been accused of frequenting hostess bars and collecting NT$100,000 in bribes monthly from funeral directors.

On Monday, the city transferred Chiang Te-hui (江德輝), deputy director of the Office of Funeral Management under the city's Bureau of Social Affairs, to a non-administrative position. Chiang is also a former anti-corruption section chief.

The vacancy will be filled by the director of the Taipei No. 1 Funeral Parlor.

Preliminary investigations conducted by the bureau found that Chiang frequently visited bars located on Minchuan E. Road, Chungshan N. Road and Linsen N. Road.

Although Chiang said he had visited the establishments, he denied that they were hostess bars.

Upon learning of the allegations, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) ordered the social affairs bureau and other municipal agencies to root out corruption.

"The mayor believes that the incident is not an isolated one," said Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) a city government spokesperson, after yesterday's weekly closed-door city affairs meeting.

Chen Jung-hung (陳榮鴻), deputy director of the social affairs office, said an investigation would continue into the allegations against Chiang and other charges raised yesterday by KMT City Councilor Wang Hao (王浩).

"Since both of the allegations concern the image of the office and the bureau, we're determined to find out the truth," Chen said.

Wang held a press conference at the city council yesterday, where he described Chiang's behavior as "disgraceful."

"My office received a fax on Oct. 11 complaining that Chiang has been forcing funeral directors and his underlings to pay for his trips to bars," Wang said. "In addition, the fax claimed that Chiang accepts NT$100,000 every month from undertakers."

But Chiang strongly denied the allegations. "It's ridiculous and an insult," he said.

The city official also said his transfer was "unfair," as there has been "no evidence to prove the allegations."

Chen Jeaw-mei (陳皎眉), director of the social affairs bureau, said the office was determined to stamp out corruption in the funeral industry.

"I know reforms take time, although we have made some progress over the past year," Chen said.

Since Chen took office in July 1999, a series of initiatives have been implemented to improve the image of the funeral management office, which had been severely criticized for corruption.

In order to change the "red envelope culture," funeral parlor staff were ordered to carry no more than NT$1,000 in cash in their pockets while at work.

Violators face one major demerit and can be dismissed from their jobs.

The bureau says that in the past two years, 49 workers at the funeral management office have been investigated for taking bribes.

In addition, roughly 100 "red envelopes" containing more than NT$100,000 have been returned since April last year.