Former Changhua County commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源) yesterday defended himself amid allegations that he masterminded an illegal land seizure to secure gains for a retail magnate during his tenure, after prosecutors discovered about NT$50 million (US$1.58 million) in his in-laws’ bank accounts.
According to a report published by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday, Changhua district prosecutors discovered the money in the account of one of Cho’s in-laws surnamed Ting (丁) while investigating charges of embezzlement against Cho Po-chung (卓伯仲), the former commissioner’s younger brother.
Cho Po-chung was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Changhua District Court in January for colluding with business groups to illegally pocket NT$49 million in the procurement of environmentally friendly bags for the county government.
Photo: Tang Shih-ming, Taipei Times
Prosecutors traced the money to Hsieh Ming-ta (謝明達), owner of the supermarket chain Yumaowu (裕毛屋) and a former county consultant, who allegedly wired the money via the account of another of Cho’s in-laws surnamed Yang (楊), the report said.
Ting and Yang were detained on charges of money laundering and forgery before being released on NT$2 million bail.
The money is associated with a textile museum development project that Hsieh’s family was bidding for, the report said.
Cho Po-yuan allegedly orchestrated the project during his tenure as county commissioner, which led to the illegal seizure of nine properties in the county’s Hemei Township (和美) to cater to the Hsieh family’s interests, the report said.
Cho Po-yuan yesterday said that he could not have been involved in the project or the land seizures, because the project was initiated in 2000 and the seized properties were rezoned for the museum’s construction site in 2004, while he did not take office until 2005.
He said the expropriated land was originally zoned for a wholesale market, so the government would have seized the properties even if they had not been rezoned.
He added that the seizure was legal, and that he was merely continuing the policy formulated by the previous administration.
However, land owners including Hsiao Jui-pang (蕭瑞邦) said that the seizure was aimed at benefiting Hsieh’s family, and they filed an administrative suit against the county government, with the Taichung High Administrative Court ruling in 2013 and last year that the seizure was illegal.
Cho Po-yuan rejected allegations that he helped secure profits for Hsieh, saying that the project was not profitable at all, because few contractors showed any interest in constructing the proposed museum.
The Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office had summoned Cho Po-yuan and his wife, Lin Jung-jung (林蓉蓉), for questioning three times, but only Lin answered the third summons.
The office might resort to forcing Cho Po-yuan and Lin to appear should they fail to answer the subpoena again, it said
Cho Po-yuan said that he and his wife had asked to delay the first two summonses, because he was running in the legislative by-elections last month, and that prosecutors had informed him that his presence was not required just before the third court hearing.
Cho Po-yuan added that he has not ruled out filing slander charges against the Apple Daily.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS