The Taoyuan District Court on Wednesday found Sun Yi-ming (孫一鳴), former head of the Aviation Police Bureau’s aviation security section, guilty of corruption.
Sun, who was arrested in 2016, was sentenced to 17 years and six months in prison for receiving kickbacks and engaging in other illicit activities relating to a NT$70 million (US$2.31 million at the current exchange rate) contract to procure X-ray scanners, which were supplied by Chinese company Nuctech.
The main contractor in the case, Han Yuan Co owner Tsai Yi-jen (蔡依仁), was also found guilty of colluding with Sun and received a five-year and eight-month sentence.
An investigation found that Nuctech had sent a 30-something female sales manager, Li Weilin (李委霖), to lure Sun into a honeytrap and obtain information about the procurement project.
Experts said the case reeked of a Chinese intelligence operation, with an eye to penetrating Taiwan’s airport and border security, as Nuctech is known to be one of China’s “princeling companies” with strong political and business connections in Beijing.
Media reports have said that Hu Haifong (胡海峰), son of former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), was a former chairman of Nuctech, and that the company enjoys a close relationship with the Chinese military establishment and government agencies.
It is reportedly one of the few manufacturers of X-ray machines to obtain approval and certification by China’s civil aviation authority for installation at airports.
When prosecutors launched an investigation into case, questions were raised that the X-ray scanners might have embedded programs that send data and scanned images to China, threatening national security.
Local media reports said that at least four Nuctech X-ray scanners installed in 2014 were still being used at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, and several more are in other airports in the nation.
After their initial installation, airport security officials took to calling them “blind X-ray scanners,” because they compared poorly in terms of standard and performance with international brands, were prone to breakdowns and frequently unable to detect restricted items, media reports said.
Reports said that the US Department of Homeland Security had officially informed Taiwan that goods checked by the Nuctech scanners would not be allowed on flights to the US.
The investigation found that Sun received NT$3.06 million from Nuctech to approve the procurement, and that despite being married, he met frequently with Li for sex since 2013.
Li accompanied Sun on holiday trips to Singapore, the UK and various Chinese cities over the years, and a search of Sun’s residence found USB memory sticks containing sex tapes they had made during their travels, investigators said.
Sun colluded with Nuctech by working to have parts shipped for assembly and repackaging in Japan to deceive Taiwanese regulators, who were led to believe the scanners were made in Japan, bypassing a ban on Chinese-made products in procurements of high-tech machines used for national security, investigators said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS