Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday filed corruption charges against former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), accusing him of using his political influence in a 2005 property development for financial gain.
DPP legislators Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) and Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) called on the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to investigate the allegations and demanded that travel restrictions be imposed on Ma to prevent him leaving the nation during the course of investigation.
Tsai and Wang said that in 2005, then-Taipei mayor and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma approved the construction of the KMT’s National Research Institute (國家發展研究院) on 8.8 hectares of land in Taipei’s Mucha District (木柵).
Ma allegedly sold the land at below market value to Yuan Lih Group for NT$430 million (US$13.66 million), which also reaped financial benefits for the KMT, because the party illegally acquired the land, forcing the original landowners from the premises, Tsai said.
Tsai also said that Ma in 2008 used his influence to secure a rezoning permit for commercial development, boosting the plot’s market value.
Yeh Sung-jen (葉頌仁), son of the original landowner, accompanied the lawmakers as they filed the charges.
Accusing former KMT authorities of acquiring the land by illegal means, Yeh said that KMT officials accompanied by four armed officers from the party’s security agency in 1962 came to their house and forced his father to sign a contract to sell the land to the party at NT$5 per ping (3.3m2) as they pointed their guns at his father’s head.
Prosecutors from the Special Investigation Division did not summon Ma or the owner of Yuan Lih for questioning during a 2007 probe.
“It was hindered from the start. The Special Investigation Division dropped the case in 2014 without prosecution,” Yeh said. “We urge prosecutors to investigate and restore justice to society.”
“After the rezoning, Yuan Lih Group gained more than NT$10 billion in profits from an increase in land value. We suspect that Ma, as the KMT chairman who sold the land, used his political influence as Taipei City mayor and also profited himself and the party through this transaction,” Wang said.
The lawmakers, along with Yeh, said they have new evidence and documents and demand that Taipei prosecutors reopen the case to determine if Ma received kickbacks from the transaction.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
RSS