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SIS questions suspects in airport BOT project case

The Supreme Court Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Section (SIS) is investigating whether an employee of the Ever Fortune Industrial Co stole NT$220 million (US$ 7 million) from the government in the Taoyuan International Airport build-operate-transfer (BOT) MRT project.

"While investigating the Taoyuan International Airport's MRT BOT project, we found somebody had pocketed a huge amount of money and this money was stolen from the government," SIS spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) said yesterday.

Prosecutors on Thursday led raids on Ever Fortune Industrial Co's headquarters and offices. They also summoned 16 people, including Ever Fortune employees and officials of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.

All were released after questioning except Ever Fortune general manager Kuo Cheng-chuan (郭政權).

National Taiwan University law professor Tsai Mao-yin (蔡茂寅) was released on bail of NT$500,000.

Prosecutors listed Kuo, Tsai and employee Wu Shao-hsing (吳紹興) as defendants in the case and banned them from leaving the country.

The company won the bid for the BOT project in 1998 in which it paid a total deposit of NT$1 billion.

However, the ministry dismissed the contract with the company on Dec. 31, 2002, because the company did not have sufficient assets to carry it out. The NT$1 billion deposit was not returned to the company.

When the company appealed, Tsai told Kuo that he could help, prosecutors allege. Tsai then allegedly established a company called "Chung-jung" to launder money.

In the end the ministry returned NT$900 million plus some NT$70 million in interest to Ever Fortune.

Ever Fortune then paid NT$220 million to "Chung-jung" but the money was immediately withdrawn and prosecutors are now investigating the case.

Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
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