Kaohsiung prosecutors are investigating former premier Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh has been in prosecutors' sights ever since the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal came to light. Prosecutors have said that they are still investigating to determine whether Hsieh had any involvement in the scandal.
Chang Hsueh-ming (
A Japanese official from Taisei named Ryoji Kikawa has been detained, along with a man named Chen Chien-ting (
Chang Hsueh-ming said the Kaohsiung District Court rejected prosecutors' application to keep Chang chi-jung in custody, but released him on bail of NT$300,000.
Chang Chi-jung was the chair of the New Culture Foundation established by Hsieh in 1991, the prosecutor added.
The prosecutor said authorities were trying to discover where the bribe went and whether Hsieh was involved in the corruption because of his close ties to Chang Chi-jung.
Prosecutors discovered in June 2002 that Kikawa, Chen and Chang Chi-jung dined together at a restaurant in Taipei.
Also, two commissioners from a five-member committee that conducted six public bids for the Kaohsiung MRT construction project, as well as former director of Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Urban Development Wu Meng-te (
Three months later, the Japanese firm was awarded the largest of the six projects. Prosecutors said that the bids for the six projects were flawed and skewed in favor of the Japanese firm, because the firm won the NT$8 billion contract despite the fact that RSEA Engineering Co offered a bid that was NT$2.7 billion lower.
They said city officials had rigged the bidding so that any company that won two of the six auctions could not take part in the rest. They are also suspected of manipulating the bidding process by holding the auctions for smaller projects first.
When RSEA Engineering Co won the first two smaller bids, it was forced out of the game for the bigger auctions, prosecutors said.
Five people, including Wu and Chung, were indicted for corruption and breach of trust last November, along with former deputy secretary-general to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (
Meanwhile, Hsieh yesterday expressed his disapproval over comparisons between his relationship with Chang Chi-jung and President Chen Shui-bian's (
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