Prosecutors yesterday formally named Nantou County Commis-sioner Peng Pai-hsien (
The Nantou District Prosecutors' Office announced this development at a press conference held yesterday afternoon following raids on Peng's office and home, several county government departments and a foundation chaired by Peng.
PHOTO: HSIEH CHIEH-YU, TAIPEI TIMES
Commissioner Peng, a political independent, in the evening went to the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau's (MJIB) Nantou office to be questioned, without appearing in public.
He had been insisting that he and officials of Nantou County Government and of the foundation were innocent and had called the prosecutors' action "political persecution."
As of press time last night he was still being questioned.
In addition to Peng, his wife, Wu Wen-wan(吳文婉), was among 16 people questioned during or after the morning raids. Others included four government officials, a foundation cashier and 10 contractors of reconstruction projects.
The prosecutors had already searched the county government offices once on Oct. 16. Since then three people have been detained by the district court, including Peng's special assistants Wu Cheng-hsun (吳政勳) and Chen Ming-chuan (陳明娟) and a construction contractor.
Nantou divisional head prosecutor Hsu Sung-kuei (徐松奎) said during the press conference that the prosecution's action yesterday was a follow-up to previous searches and interviews and was in accordance with evidence already found.
"We have found that some financial donations from the public [to the government relief funds] went to two [private] foundations chaired by Commissioner Peng," Hsu said.
He said prosecutors, investigators and police officers went yesterday morning to Peng's office and asked the commissioner to provide account books and other related materials regarding the operation of the foundations, but Peng refused.
"We therefore began the search in accordance with the law and have seized important materials," Hsu said.
Prosecutors at first asked Peng to go with them for questioning but Peng declined, saying that he had to attend the county council session.
Prosecutors therefore interviewed Peng in his office for an hour until around 9:30am and took away a computer and three cartons of materials from his office.
Hsu said they had Peng sign a subpoena promising to attend questioning in the afternoon.
At the same time,another group of prosecutors and investigators searched Peng's home and left with Peng's wife, Wu.
But Hsu stressed that Wu was not summoned as a suspect but invited to "assist the investigation."
Prosecutors suspect that there have been funds flowing between the accounts of the county government and the foundations.
Hsu said the destinations of relief funds remained mysterious and the foundations had failed to provide complete information concerning the use of the money.
But two weeks ago, when Peng's second special assistant was detained, the county government announced that the funds of the foundations and county government were separate.
According to Hsu, moreover, the prosecutors have found evidence suggesting that Peng had favored certain firms in the contracting of construction projects for the county government's new building and a temporary building.
Hsu said, in answer to reporters' questions, that some people questioned previously had said that Peng had given written orders on "slips of paper" for suspicious activities to be undertaken. But he declined to release further details.
Learning of the search of Peng's office in the morning, the county council, where a general interpellation session was underway, made a resolution to recess for two weeks.
Deputy Commissioner Lai Ying-fang (
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
CLAMPING DOWN: At the preliminary stage on Jan. 1 next year, only core personnel of the military, the civil service and public schools would be subject to inspections Regular checks are to be conducted from next year to clamp down on military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers with Chinese citizenship or Chinese household registration, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) stipulates that Taiwanese who obtain Chinese household registration or a Chinese passport would be deprived of their Taiwanese citizenship and lose their right to work in the military, public service or public schools, it said. To identify and prevent the illegal employment of holders of Chinese ID cards or
RSS