Miaoli prosecutors yesterday denied responsibility for an attempted suicide that led to the death of one woman and seriously injured two men after they investigated alleged corruption by a Miaoli County Government official.
Miaoli prosecutors said Chou Wei-chi (邱瑋基), 37, an investigator with the Miaoli County Government’s Environmental Bureau, was suspected of taking bribes from the county’s garbage disposal business. On Thursday, Chou was released on NT$300,000 bail after being summoned for questioning by prosecutors.
On Friday, the environmental bureau announced that Chou would be removed from his post as investigator.
According to accounts that police officers gathered from Chou’s family, the suspended investigator was in bad spirits after he left the prosecutors’ office, and did not go home on Friday night.
Chou’s wife, 35, surnamed Ho (何), and a friend, surnamed Wu (吳), went out to look for him.
The officers said that at 11:20pm, two police officers on patrol found Chou sitting on a bridge by himself drinking alcohol. Five minutes later, they saw Ho and Wu rush to the site.
Before the two police officers were able to get close to them, the trio fell from the 20m bridge after what looked like Ho and Wu trying to stop Chou from jumping off the bridge.
The trio were rushed to a hospital. Ho was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital, while Chou and Wu were severely injured and are still in critical condition, the police said.
Miaoli Prosecutor Hsu Chih-ping (許智評) yesterday expressed regret over the incident, but said prosecutors investigated Chou’s alleged corruption case in accordance with legal procedures and did not assert pressure on him.
“No signs showed that Chou might commit suicide when he was with prosecutors,” he said.
Miaoli Environmental Bureau Director Liu Po-shu (劉伯舒) said yesterday that Chou worked for the bureau for more than 10 years, adding that he was a hard worker.
“I believed Chou is innocent,” Liu said.
Liu said that Chou still didn’t know his wife had died in the incident.
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