Prosecutors yesterday questioned the seven main suspects in an investigation into alleged irregularities in government procurements concerning tender cases handled by former Legislative Yuan secretary-general Lin Hsi-shan (林錫山) and his office.
The suspects summoned for questioning were those who were released on bail on Jan. 20 following the initial round of the investigation, including Lin’s wife, Liu Hsin-wei (劉馨蔚), and a former section chief at the Legislative Yuan’s Information Technology Office, Chen Lu-sheng (陳露生).
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it has made progress in the probe.
Prosecutors said Lin is suspected of having received more than NT$10 million (US$298,463) in kickbacks from Far Net Technologies Co, which won 32 computer and information technology (IT)-related contracts at the Legislative Yuan amounting to NT$200 million over the past five years.
It has been reported that Far Net Technologies sales manager Lin Ming-yu (林明玉) has turned state witness and is to testify against the other main suspects in the case, and that she was released on NT$300,000 bail on Feb. 5.
According to investigators, Lin Hsi-shan instructed his aide, Chen Liang-yin (陳亮吟), a section chief at the legislature’s Secretary-General’s Office, to leak the details of the office’s IT requirements to Far Net Technologies in order to rig tender bids, and then received kickbacks.
If Far Net Technologies did not manage to win an open tender, it was alleged that Lin Hsi-shan would instruct Chen to nullify the tender on technicalities.
Records indicate that Far Net Technologies secured 33 IT-related tender projects at the legislature from 2011 to the end of last year and in most of these instances, it was the only company that was deemed qualified to bid.
Prosecutors said the main suspects would be charged with violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), as well as with accepting bribes, receiving improper benefits in contravention of their official duties and leaking secrets.
Some pundits have said that the corruption probe, which was initiated shortly after the Jan. 16 presidential and legislative elections, was intended as a continuation of a political feud between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former legislative speaker Wang Jin-Pyng (王金平), since Lin Hsi-shan was a long-time associate of Wang.
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