Farglory Land Development Co chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) was yesterday summoned for questioning by the Shilin District Court as a witness in a loan investigation.
Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung’s (劉政鴻) brother, Liu Cheng-chih (劉政池), was indicted in February by the district prosecutors’ office on charges of illegally occupying public land to build a mansion on Yangmingshan (陽明山) in Taipei.
Prosecutors found that Liu Cheng-chih used the mansion on Yangmingshan to apply for, and was granted, a loan from Farglory Life.
After interviewing senior Farglory Life officials over the past few days, prosecutors summoned Chao for questioning yesterday.
Chao responded to reporters’ queries by saying: “Liu Cheng-hung’s family and I share a friendship of more than 20 years. I cannot reveal the contents of the investigation because of a gag order.”
Prosecutors suspect that Liu Cheng-chih applied for and was granted a loan of NT$300 million (US$10 million) by Farglory Life, and that Liu used the property on Yangmingshan as collateral for NT$200 million of the total.
Prosecutors said Chao claimed the loan is legal and that Farglory was not cheated by Liu.
Meanwhile, the Taipei office of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau yesterday also summoned Liu Cheng-chih and his wife, Chien Hsuan (簡萱), for questioning about the loan.
In November last year, prosecutors raided Liu Cheng-chih’s mansion on Yangmingshan and found a 210m-long basement after digging around the area. The cellar — as large as a full-sized basketball court — was formed out of 12 shipping containers that were each 16.15m long, 2.44m wide and 2.59m high — with one of the containers serving as an entrance.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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