Former vice minister of transportation and communications George Chen (
Chen's testimony at the hearing concerning the applicability of the procurement law could be damning to five members of the city government's "final decision group" who stand accused of breach of trust.
Chen said he had proposed all along that the construction of the city's MRT system should have been overseen by the government procurement law, a proposal he made at many screening meetings, including several held by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
He added he did not know why his proposal was rejected.
Chou Li-liang (
If the court agrees with Chou, he and the other four -- former Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (
If the court decides to side with Chen Shih-yih, the five will be indicted on charges of "attempting to help certain parties profit," a charge that could bring heavier sentences for all concerned.
Chen Shih-yih told the court that during the planning stages, the private sector needed to invest just over NT$20 billion (US$613 million) in order to control the whole build, operate, transfer (BOT) project, worth more than NT$200 billion.
"The media at the time said this would give the private sector a chance to spend a small amount of money and guarantee a huge return," he said.
In response to the prosecutor's request, Chen Shih-yih explained that this meant the private sector would only be investing a small portion, with most of the money coming from the government.
The 42-km rapid transit system has so far cost NT$181.6 billion to build, with the city government investing a whopping NT$150.8 billion or 83.2 percent, and yet they allowed the KRTC, dominated by Chen Min-hsien, to control the use of the building funds.
Chen stands accused of breach of trust in connection with an investigation into why Thai workers working on the KRTC project rioted in August last year and all five members of the "final decision" committee stand accused of attempting to profit certain contractors when awarding the NT$44.7 billion project because they failed to follow government regulations when choosing the winning bidders.
The prosecution also charged them with disclosing the minimum bids to certain parties involved while excluding other competitors, incurring heavy losses for the city government and the KRTC.
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