Elected officials at the central and local government levels lobbied for 70 foreign labor brokerage firms around the nation for the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp. (KRTC), which is in charge of the construction of the city's mass rapid transit system, the KRTC confirmed yesterday.
Inundated
KRTC officials said that after the company was made aware that it would be chosen as the top investor in the MRT construction project in late 2000, it was inundated with calls from various elected officials, recommending foreign labor brokerage firms for the project.
The officials said that the elected officials, including legislators and city and county councilors, came in person or had their office directors carry their name cards to the KRTC, hoping to introduce foreign laborers for the company and take a slice of the lucrative pie.
All parties
The elected officials came from across the party spectrum, with some still active on the political scene and others having already fallen by the wayside, the KRTC officials said.
The KRTC registered the names of the lobbyists, the times they came and the brokerage companies that they recommended, the officials said, adding that the list of the lobbyists had been seized by prosecutors several weeks ago.
Commenting on the news, a task force made up of prosecutors and investigators working on alleged profiteering surrounding the MRT project said that they are still looking into whether elected officials were involved in lobbying, and will not divulge anything during the process.
The introduction of foreign laborers for the KRTC eventually fell to the Huapan Co, which was commissioned by the KRTC to manage Thai laborers working on the project.
The company's harsh treatment of the Thais triggered riots on Aug. 21, however, and brought to light a series of irregularities surrounding the project, including the involvement of a former top Presidential Office aide.
Huapan's status
However, Huapan Co is not even registered with the Ministry of Economic Affairs under the name of a foreign labor brokerage firm. Its executives, Yen Shih-hua (
The two are said to have close ties with Chen Min-hsien (
Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) also had a list of the lobbyists. Yeh earlier was commissioned by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to look into any administrative negligence in the MRT scandal.
Yeh's investigation report, however, has shed little new light on the case.
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