Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) was questioned by Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday on suspicion of involvement in an alleged corruption case.
“Because the investigation has impacted the county government’s credibility and its operations, I hope I can clear the matter to prosecutors by myself and hope the case will be completed as soon as possible,” Chang said prior to entering the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau (MJIB) Kaohsiung branch yesterday morning.
The questioning was ongoing as of press time.
Chang’s younger sister, Chang Ying-chi (張瑛姬), a deputy secretary-general of the county’s trade and investment promotion association, a non-profit organization partly funded by the county government, has been detained for two months and last week judges ordered her detention be extended by two months.
Judges added that Chang Ying-chi had been detained on charges of violating the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法).
Kaohsiung prosecutor Huang Tsai-hsiu (黃彩秀) said Helen Chang was questioned as a suspect and investigators were investigating her role in the case.
National Open University’s professor Wu Ming-ching (吳銘圳), Kaohsiung First University of Science and Technology professor Jim Jui-min Lin (林銳敏), and Chiu Feng-ming (邱豐銘), an official of the county government’s department of overall planning, were released on bail last week after being detained by Kaohsiung judges for two months since earlier in August.
Prosecutors also listed National Sun Yat-sen University professor Lou Jie-chiung (樓基中), National Pintung University of Science and Technology professor Chang Kuo-ching (張國慶) and a business man, Yeh Ya-chiang (葉雅強) as suspects in the case.
According to prosecutors Huang, Chang Ying-chi and Chiu were detained for taking bribes while in office and leaking confidential information, while the professors were suspected of having taken bribes from businesses while not maintaining neutral positions as evaluation members.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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