Prosecutors sought to detain independent Nantou County Council Speaker Wu Chih-hsiang (
Nantou District Prosecutor's Office spokesman Soong Kung-liang (宋恭良) said prosecutors from the Supreme Prosecutor's Office's Special Investigation Panel along with Nantou prosecutors raided Wu's Nantou County Council office and his residence on Tuesday, seizing a number of documents. They have also summoned Wu for questioning.
Soong said Wu was an executive officer of the Taiwan Dental Association when the association was raising funds for victims of the earthquake.
Wu appropriated NT$30 million (US$910,000) from the fund to purchase a number of surveillance cameras for the county, but allegedly embezzled part of the fund during the purchase, Soong said.
Prosecutors found more than NT$16.5 million was deposited from the fund into the bank account of one of Wu's relatives, Soong said.
Soong told reporters yesterday that Wu was also suspected of abusing his speakership power to force a sand factory to sell its products and holdings at a lower price.
Wu had complained at council meetings that a sand factory in the county had taken too much sand from a river. He revealed the details of the "scandal" in a personal journal. He is also alleged to have privately contacted the owner of the factory and forced him to sell the factory at a lower price, said Soong.
The case also accuses Wu and other dental association officials of bribing lawmakers to support passage of the Oral Cavity Healthcare Law (口腔健康法) in 2003, Soong said.
He said many members of the association allegedly bribed legislators with a total of NT$24.4 million to support the Oral Cavity Healthcare Law.
The law included dental services in the National Health Insurance, ensuring dentists would continue to receive subsidies.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all