Taipei prosecutors said yesterday they are investigating a scandal involving financially strapped Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT, 遠東航空) officials who were suspected of bribing Chinese officials to win route rights in China.
Prosecutors said yesterday that Lou Wen-hao (樓文豪), an official of the Taiwan branch of Cambodia’s Angkor Airways Corp, told prosecutors that he had represented FAT officials in wiring around NT$175 million (US$5.7 million) to Chinese aviation authority officials, hoping they could help FAT to win rights at an airport in Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, and an airport in Tsingtao in Shandong Province.
Prosecutors said they are looking for a man suspected of contacting Chinese officials to facilitate the matter, adding that the case is tough because they are unlikely to interview any Chinese officials who checked their accounts.
Prosecutors discovered the scandal as they probed FAT officials over their alleged involvement in an embezzlement scandal.
Lou, former FAT chairman Stephen Tsui (崔湧) and former FAT president Philip Chen (陳尚群) have been detained since late April on suspicion of embezzling NT$2 billion from the airline, throwing the company into a financial crisis.
Prosecutors said they were probing the whereabouts of the missing funds when Lou told them that part of the money might have been used to bribe Chinese officials.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
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