Former Keelung City Council speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) was released yesterday after posting bail of NT$20 million (US$640,000), ending more than 200 days in detention in a corruption probe.
Huang immediately went to pay his last respects to his father, who died on April 9 at the age of 84.
Huang was detained on charges related to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), including peddling influence, bribery, accepting kickbacks and other practices in relation to several real-estate deals and a road project in Keelung.
Photo: Yu Chao-fu, Taipei Times
During a trial hearing into one of his cases at the Keelung District Court last month, he admitted to appropriating NT$6.75 million of local government funds for personal use.
Since all witnesses on the case finished their cross-examination this week, the court saw no further need to keep Huang in custody and set a bond for his release.
Huang’s alleged influence peddling and corruption cases involve JSL Group, Lih Pao Construction Co and other real-estate developers.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
He was arrested in June last year and new case details were reported in the following months.
Huang, 49, was originally the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) nominee in the race for Keelung mayor last year, but his political fortunes took a dramatic turn in July when the KMT revoked the nomination after the bribery allegations surfaced and his public support rating plunged.
He was subsequently stripped off his party membership for insisting on running as an independent.
The election on Nov. 29 last year was won by Lin Yu-chang (林右昌), the first Democratic Progressive Party politician to win a Keelung mayoral election since 2001.
Huang finished third, with 16.26 percent of the vote.
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