Eighteen Keelung city councilors, along with city officials, were caught up in a judicial probe yesterday for allegedly receiving bribes from a property developer to gain approval for a real-estate construction project.
As of yesterday evening, the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office had detained four city officials for questioning, including the heads of the Keelung government’s construction bureau and civil engineering section.
They had also questioned 18 city councilors, nearly two-thirds of the 31 elected members of the Keelung City Council.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
Late last night, the prosecutors’ office charged all 18 as suspects in the case.
Those caught up in the investigation were councilors from both the pan-blue and pan-green camps, including prominent figures such as Keelung City Council Secretary-General Yeh Ching-tung (葉景棟), and councilors Chen Chiang-shan (陳江山), Hsieh Shou-nan (謝守男) and Yang Shih-cheng (楊石城).
The case involves a property developer suspected of paying bribes to Keelung officials and councilors to win approval for an urban development project on Yuemei Road (月眉路), which included widening the road and building of new infrastructure.
Yesterday’s operation involved 140 personnel from the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office, along with the Ministry of Justice’s Mobile Squad for Northern Taiwan and the Agency Against Corruption.
Investigators raided the Keelung City Council building at about 8am, gathering documents and other evidence, while other personnel visited the homes of councilors to search for evidence.
According to news reports, most of the councilors were initially against the Yuemei Road development project, but changed their minds after negotiations with the developer.
This story has been updated since it was first published.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS