More than 20 current and retired CSBC Corp employees and Republic of China Navy personnel on Tuesday were summoned for questioning by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office regarding alleged bid rigging on maintenance contracts for the navy’s Keelung Class destroyers serviced at the Zuoying Logistics and Support Headquarters.
Chienyu Shipping Co shareholder Tsai Te-ming (蔡德明) allegedly planned to inflate maintenance quotes from tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars to nearly NT$200 million (US$6.38 million) by adding a contract requirement that only Chienyu could maintain the Keelung Class frigates and other ships.
Prosecutors on Tuesday applied for search warrants for offices and residences of all people suspected of being involved in the case based on investigations by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Kaohsiung branch.
Prosecutors yesterday asked the Kaohsiung District Court to suspend Tsai’s visitation rights on grounds that he might attempt to corroborate his story with others. He is being held on suspicion of bribery and corruption.
The district court refused the request and instead ordered bail of NT$150,000 while restricting Tsai from traveling abroad.
The Navy Command Headquarters on Tuesday said that it would cooperate with investigations and allowed prosecutors to conduct searches and summon its personnel for statements.
It said that the military has always aspired to be above corruption and abide with the law, adding that any legal infraction would be dealt with as per regulations.
CSBC has also cooperated with investigators by providing prosecutors with a copy of the Keelung Class destroyers’ maintenance logs, the paperwork for funding requests and payout information to subcontractors in 2014, it said.
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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