Prosecutors said yesterday that investigations into several former ministers' use of their discretionary fund were nearing completion and several former officials may be indicted for corruption.
Prosecutors from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that they had interviewed some 10 former ministers from the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government on Friday.
These include former minister of justice Morley Shih (施茂林), former minister of economic affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆), former minister of the interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) and former minister of transportation and communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆).
Prosecutors said that some of these former officials were suspected of using fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from their special allowance fund in violation of the Criminal Law.
Prosecutors said they also planned to interview Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials who served before 2000 on their use of discretionary funds.
These would include then premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and vice premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄). Siew is now the vice president and Liu the premier.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on September indicted former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former National Security Council secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) on suspicion of misusing their special allowance funds.
Lu, Yu and Chen were charged with corruption and forgery. Their cases are pending in the Taipei District Court.
Then KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) faced similar charges early last year. Prosecutors accused him of misusing a special fund while serving as Taipei mayor from 1998 to last year.
A district court accepted his argument that by law the fund was an official subsidy and acquitted him in August.
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
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