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Former Kaohsiung transit official released on bail

A former director of Kaohsiung's Bureau of Rapid Transit Systems was released on bail yesterday for alleged corruption relating to the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal.

However, although Chou Li-liang (周禮良) early yesterday morning went free after paying NT$1 million (US$29,850) in bail, prosecutors again summoned him for questioning at noon.

Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝) said that prosecutors wanted to learn more about Chou's role in the MRT construction scandal.

Chou last week stepped down from his position as vice minister of transportation and communications as the KRTC scandal deepened.

On Monday and yesterday, Kaohsiung prosecutors summoned five commissioners from a committee that conducted six public bids for Kaohsiung MRT construction projects in August 2002.

Chou, along with former KRTC vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (陳敏賢) and former KRTC general manager Lai Hsien-yu (賴獻玉), were summoned on Monday. Yesterday, Kaohsiung prosecutors summoned Wu Meng-te (吳孟德), director of the Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Urban Development -- who was director of the city's Bureau of Public Works at the time of the auctions -- and Chung Shan-tun (鍾善藤), who is a Ministry of Transportation and Communications official.

After day-long questioning, Chen and Lai were released shortly after midnight on Monday on NT$2 million bail.

At press time, Chou, Wu and Chung were still being questioned by prosecutors.

"The five commissioners of the committee are suspected of violating the Government Procurement Law [政府採購法] which regulates how public biddings are conducted, when they hosted the six public bids for major Kaohsiung MRT construction projects in 2002," Chung Chung-hsiao said.

The prosecutor added that the committee was suspected of illegally favoring Hwang Chang Building Co (HCBC) because HCBC won an NT$8 billion contract, the largest awarded among the six auctions, even though RSEA Engineering Co had offered a bid that was NT$2.7 billion lower. The commissioners would be charged with corruption, Chung said.

The prosecutor said the committee had stipulated that any company that won two of the six auctions could not take part in the rest of the bidding.

Chung said the committee is suspected of manipulating the bidding process by holding auctions for smaller projects first.

"When the major contender RSEA Engineering Co won the first two smaller bids, it was forced out of the game," he said.

As they left the prosecutors' office yesterday morning, Chou and Chen said that the Kaohsiung MRT build-operate-transfer model was not subject to the Government Procurement Law, so they had not violated any laws.
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