Two former officials yesterday were found guilty of taking bribes in connection to the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal, and three were found not guilty. All five were found not guilty of violating the Government Procurement Law (
The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced the former director of Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Urban Development, Wu Meng-te (吳孟德), to 12 years in prison, while former Ministry of Transportation and Communications secretary-general Chung Shan-tun (鍾善藤) received a four-year term.
The court ruling said Chung was given a lighter sentence because he had confessed to taking bribes.
The court said Chung received NT$3 million (US$90,000) and Wu received NT$2 million from a Japanese construction firm for helping it to win one of the main bids for Kaohsiung's MRT project.
The two men served on the committee that conducted six public bids for the Kaohsiung MRT project in 2002.
The court said there was no evidence that the three other commissioners on the committee -- former KRTC general manager Lai Hsien-yu (賴獻玉), former KRTC vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (陳敏賢) and former Kaohsiung Bureau of Rapid Transit Systems director Chou Li-liang (周禮良) -- had taken bribes from the Japanese firm.
The court found that the MRT project was a build-operate-transit (BOT) project, not a government construction project, so the Government Procurement Law (政府採購法) did not apply to the case.
A spokesman for Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
Hsieh campaign office spokesman Chao Tien-lin (
"More than 50 people were summoned as witnesses. None of the statements mentioned that Hsieh was involved in any wrongdoing," Chao said.
He said that the only defendent who had been appointed by Hsieh -- Chou Li-liang -- had been found not guilty.
Chao criticized the "pro-blue media" and "pro-blue prosecutors" for their "fraudulent accusations" against Hsieh over the KRTC case, saying that they were trying to discredit the former mayor.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS