Prosecutors in Greater Kaohsiung have indicted two senior army officers and several other people on charges of corruption over an alleged scheme to pocket tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars in government subsidy payments.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday indicted Lieutenant-Colonel Chang Han-liang (張漢良), a staff officer at the Political Warfare Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense (MND), and Major Kao Wei-hsiang (高偉祥), a political warfare officer at the Army’s 8th Corp Command.
The officers are suspected of colluding with seven other people to allegedly embezzle about NT$15 million (US$494,000) of government subsidy funding intended for property seizures and the reconstruction of Huangpu New Village (黃埔新村), a military dependents’ community in Greater Kaohsiung’s Fongshan District (鳳山).
Chang and Kao are said to have plotted with several households, with a major role allegedly played by Wang Huai-chung (王懷忠), chairman of the community residents association.
Along with the two army officers, seven community residents — including Wang — were indicted on corruption charges on Thursday.
According to the indictment, Kao and Wang made falsified title deeds and bogus land measurement reports starting in 2011 to deceive the Ministry of National Defense in 14 compensation cases, amounting to about NT$15 million.
The two men allegedly demanded bribes from village households targeted under the ministry’s land seizure and reconstruction program.
Lieutenant Colonel Chang allegedly requested a bribe of NT$55,000 to act as a go-between for one of the military dependents’ households that was applying for compensation from the ministry in the expropriation and reconstruction program.
According to the indictment, Chang’s involvement in receiving bribes was uncovered during the investigation, when some households sought to receive a ministry disbursement through “behind-the-scene deals arranged by influential persons,” despite not meeting all the necessary conditions, or when households showed up with suspect title deed documents.
All nine suspects were indicted on charges related to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) among other charges.
The prosecutors’ office on Thursday also said that about NT$9.57 million of the illegally obtained money had been tracked down by investigative authorities.
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