All members of the Taipei Dome review committee have been listed by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office as defendants, as prosecutors investigate allegations involving the Dome’s safety reviews.
Many of the committee members, all of whom are experts from non-governmental agencies, were summoned for questioning yesterday.
Farglory Group (遠雄集團) won the Dome’s tender in 2003 and began negotiations with the Taipei City Government about the build-operate-transfer contract. It was eventually allowed to construct the Dome without having to pay any royalties to the city government.
Many civil groups said that the safety reviews were problematic and accused some of the reviewers of working in Farglory’s favor.
The summoned reviewers all rejected allegations that they had worked to benefit Farglory.
Some of the reviewers’ families said that they only received meager allowances for the job, but were implicated in the scandal for no reason, affecting their positions at universities.
The families said that former Taiwan Architecture and Building Center chief executive officer Hsu Ming-wen (許銘文) was the one covering for the company.
Hsu was summoned for questioning in June about allegations of profiteering, and was released on NT$500,000 bail.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was summoned on Wednesday as a defendant over accusations that he benefited Farglory during his tenure as Taipei mayor when the city government started negotiating the contract with the company in 2004.
Ma was allowed to leave after being questioned for more than eight hours, while former Taipei Department of Finance commissioner Lee Sush-der (李述德), who was also summoned for questioning on Wednesday, was banned from leaving the country after a questioning session of about 14 hours.
During the questioning, prosecutors had to present many pieces of evidence to help Lee recall the circumstances, as he said he could not remember details of the negotiation.
The prosecutors’ office yesterday said they were comparing the defendants’ accounts with that of former Farglory Group vice president Tsai Chung-i (蔡宗易), the Dome’s original designer Liu Pei-sen (劉培森) and the group’s chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄), and would not rule out summoning Ma again for questioning.
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
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS