Presidential Office Secretary-General Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) yesterday denied media accusations that he has ties to a metal-recycling company that allegedly also used connections to profit from the slag and waste desulphurization business.
According to the latest edition of the Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday, Ti Yung Co (地勇選礦), a metal-recycling company that accused former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) of accepting a bribe of NT$63 million to help it secure procurement contracts from China Steel Corp (CSC, 中油) and its subsidiaries in 2010, was not the only company that resorted to securing contracts in such a way.
The report names Tair Shye Enterprise (台協) and Da Di Liang Co (大地亮) as having been involved in the same sort of dealing with politicians.
The article alleged that while Ti Yung secured contracts through Lin, Tair Shye had a similar relationship with Control Yuan member Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬), while Da Di Liang was “close” to Tseng.
The Special Investigation Division (SID) is currently seeking to clarify the roles and involvement of Tseng and Yeh in relation to the two companies, the article said.
According to the magazine, although Ti Yung initially had a monopoly on the slag desulphurization sector, Tair Shye soon became involved in the business, prompting CSC to change the rules and allow Da Di Liang to become the third partner via public bidding.
The SID’s next step is to seek clarification of Tseng’s and Yeh’s roles in the sharing of any fees, it said.
Tseng issued a statement yesterday saying he had no affiliation with Da Di Liang and welcoming a public investigation to clear his name, adding that if anyone named him as being involved in corrupt practices, he would take legal action to defend his name.
Yeh also denied the report.
Meanwhile, the SID called Ti Yung Co head Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) in for questioning yesterday, asking if he had leaked the information to the magazine.
Chen admitted that some of the information in the article had come from him and was warned by prosecutors not to release any more information into the public domain.
The SID yesterday also questioned Lin further in the hope of clarifying questions that remain about the his case.
The article yesterday also said that former Greater Kaohsiung City environmental protection bureau chief Lee Mu-sheng (李穆生) asked Chen for NT$50 million in bribes.
Prior to the magazine hitting the newsstands yesterday, Lee said that in protest at the magazine’s unfounded allegations and to uphold his — and the city government’s — integrity, he tendered his resignation on Tuesday night.
As of press time, SID spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) could not be reached for comment on the magazine’s allegations.
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