The Ministry of Justice announced yesterday that prosecutors indicted 534 elected officials since it established the Black Gold Investigation Center five years ago to crack down on corruption.
According to the ministry's statistics, prosecutors have prosecuted 534 officials for taking bribes, buying votes, or being involved in mafia gangs, and prosecutors have recovered more than NT$27.1 billion dirty money.
Those prosecuted include 23 legislators, eight city or county commissioners, 15 city or county speakers or vice speakers, 141 city councilors and 347 township heads or councilors, the statistics said.
More than 300 senior government officials and 3,256 civil servants were also indicted for bribery.
The Black Gold Investigation Center was founded in June 2000, the year Democratic Progressive Party took office. The statistics dated from June 2000 to the end of last year.
Justice Minister Morley Shih (
On Thursday, Tainan County Council Speaker Wu Chien-bao (
Prosecutors asked the court to detain Wu on Friday and the court agreed that he should be detained yesterday morning.
Prosecutors have not been able to locate Lee.
In addition, Chunghwa County Council Speaker Pai Hung-shen (
Shih said the former Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄), who was found guilty of vote-buying in a council speakership election, was a good example of the justice ministry's determination to crack down on corruption.
He said Chu's trial -- in which many other Kaohsiung City councilors and a council vice speaker were convicted for bribery -- had cleaned up Kaohsiung politics.
Shih also pointed to the prosecution of Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) lawmaker Tsai Hao (
He further said KMT Legislator Ho Chih-hui (何智輝) was prosecuted for accepting kickbacks form construction firms in return for contracts last year.
In addition, 14 Taipei County Councilors were prosecuted last year for jointly accepting bribes from local construction firms, he added.
Shih also said that former Council of Indigenous Peoples Chairman Chen Chien-nien (
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
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