Taiwan Water Co chairman Hsu Hsiang-kun (
Kaohsiung District Court ordered their detention following a request by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office.
Hsu is suspected of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks from contractors of major construction projects over the past two years via his special adviser Chen Tzu-kuo (陳茲國) and You Yii-der (游以德), an associate professor in the Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering at National Taiwan University, who serves as the chairman of a local environmental protection foundation, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they started investigating the case after receiving tip offs last year.
They said they had discovered Hsu asked for kickbacks from bidders with the help of Chen and You. He also forced subordinates at the company to collude with him, the prosecutors said.
Chen and You, the company's chief engineer Lin Lien-mao (
The court denied the prosecutors' request to detain the environmental protection foundation's secretary Sun Ling-ling (孫玲玲) and accountant Kuo Hsiu-mei (郭秀美).
According to prosecutors, when contractors bid for a construction project, Hsu often charged them an additional "registration fee," of about 10 to 20 percent of the total budget for each construction project. Prosecutors said that Hsu and his associates had made more than NT$10 million (US$300,000) in this way.
When they searched Hsu's office early on Thursday, they found NT$1.5 million in cash, as well as US$60,000 and gold jewelry.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said yesterday that Hsu would be suspended from both the chairmanship and his post as a Cabinet adviser, in keeping with the provisions of the Civil Servant Services Act (公務員服務法).
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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