Two more principals in New Taipei City (新北市) were detained yesterday for allegedly accepting bribes from catering firms, the Banciao District Prosecutors’ Office said, in an ongoing scandal over school lunch vendors.
Principals Lee Ying-tsung (李應宗) of Houpu Elementary School, in Banciao (板橋), and Ko Fen (柯份) of Luzhou Elementary School were held incommunicado on corruption charges.
Principals Hsu Li-chen (許利楨) of Cheng Kung Elementary School in Lujhou District (蘆洲) and Tsai Pao-chun (蔡寶俊) from Qing Shui Elementary School in Tucheng District (土城), who are also under investigation, were released on NT$1 million (US$33,300) bail after lengthy questioning that began on Thursday.
Meanwhile, New Taipei City’s Department of Education announced that Lee and Ko would be suspended from their positions, while Hsu and Tsai would be demoted to teaching posts and reassigned to the department as staff.
The four were questioned after Banciao prosecutors launched a second wave of investigations on Thursday into cases of alleged bribery over the provision of school lunches, looking into the practices at 13 elementary schools and seven junior-high schools in New Taipei City.
During the first wave of investigations, Banciao prosecutors on Oct. 28 detained 14 people in New Taipei City, including five principals, a middleman and a number of school employees overseeing lunch programs.
The recent probes came in response to a tip-off in May that several elementary-school principals in New Taipei City had been accepting kickbacks from lunch suppliers.
Minister of Education Wu Ching-ji (吳清基) yesterday instructed all city and county governments to immediately launch investigations to determine whether schools beyond New Taipei City are also involved in the practice, especially as most elementary and junior-high schools have cafeterias supplied by privately run catering companies.
Also yesterday, the Taiwan High Court revoked the Banciao District Court’s ruling from late last month on the 14 people questioned in the first wave of investigations and ordered a retrial.
The Banciao District Court, on the recommendation of the District Prosecutors’ Office, on Oct. 29 released two principals on NT$200,000 bail, while three other principals, nine school employees and private caterers be held incommunicado.
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
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