Three public elementary school principals in New Taipei City (新北市) were detained yesterday morning and three others released on bail over their alleged involvement in corruption related to a school lunch program.
Those detained in the investigation were principals Wu Yu-mei (吳玉美), Chang Chung-jen (張崇仁) and Yeh Chen-yi (葉振翼); a member of a committee in charge of reviewing the New Taipei City (新北市) elementary school lunch program, Yang Yan-han (楊堙釬); and eight school lunch suppliers.
Principal Lee Ming-sheng (李明生) was released on NT$1,000,000 (US$33,000) bail, while principals Tseng Hsueh-chiao (曾雪嬌) and Lai Chieh-hung (賴介洪) were released on NT$200,000 bail.
The New Taipei City Government’s Education Bureau said the principals in detention were suspended, while principals released on bail were transferred to other posts.
Prosecutors allege that a preliminary investigation showed that the lunch dealers might have bribed the principals to receive a better evaluation grade, helping their bids to supply school lunches.
Schools usually hold bids for lunchbox suppliers once a semester. To gain an edge, prosecutors allege some dealers added between NT$3 and NT$5 per lunchbox as a bribe for principals, and that some principals were receiving between NT$200,000 and NT$300,000 a semester.
Some principals were also suspected of leaking the names of committee members to lunch suppliers to enable them to bribe committee members, prosecutors added.
The Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday searched several elementary schools and school lunch suppliers. A total of 40 locations were searched and a number of documents were seized, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said because those school lunch suppliers also offer school lunches to high schools in the city, they would expand their investigations to see whether high school officials were also involved in the scheme.
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