District prosecutors led investigators in a search of Sika Taiwan’s offices yesterday and confiscated inventory reports, contracts and other paperwork as part of their investigation into a scandal over the use of defective adhesive in public construction projects.
Sika Taiwan is suspected of failing to inform the Taipei City Government of a product recall in January by the manufacturer’s US branch, Sika USA.
The city government used one of the recalled products, AnchorFix-4, in several construction projects, including the Xinsheng Overpass (新生高架橋), until the Chinese-language Next Magazine contacted city officials earlier this month with questions about the use of the adhesives.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it did not wait for city government to file the lawsuit, but assigned prosecutor Lin Tsung-chih (林宗志) to lead the investigation to help speed up the process.
Investigators from the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau took part in the raid on the Sika Taiwan’s office in Lujhu (蘆竹) Township, Taoyuan County.
Prosecutors said they were trying to determine whether Sika Taiwan committed offenses against public safety, or engaged in fraud and forgery.
They said a key element in the probe would be determining whether its managers and employees deliberately failed to inform the city of the recall.
They said they would call the company’s managers in for questioning.
The Xinsheng Overpass has been undergoing a NT$1.6 billion (US$48 million) renovation since July last year.
It had been scheduled to reopen at the end of next month.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A tropical disturbance off the southeastern coast of the Philippines might become the first typhoon of the western Pacific typhoon season, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The system lacks a visible center and how it would develop is only likely to become clear on Sunday or Monday, the CWA said, adding that it was not yet possible to forecast the potential typhoon's effect on Taiwan. The American Meteorological Society defines a tropical disturbance as a system made up of showers and thunderstorms that lasts for at least 24 hours and does not have closed wind circulation.
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
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