The Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted former New Taipei City deputy mayor Hsu Chih-chien (許志堅) — once the right-hand man of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) and a close associate of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — as well as six other people on charges of corruption over alleged bribes totaling NT$7.58 million (US$233,410) to facilitate urban renewal projects on bids by construction contractors.
The prosecutors’ office said that Hsu, who was head of the municipality’s urban renewal project review committee and the urban planning committee, was in charge of all major decisions concerning the municipalities urban planning and urban renewal projects.
According to the office, Hsu was allegedly asked by Baosing Construction Co (寶興建設) supervisor Kuo Chao-hsiang (郭兆祥) via Chou Li-hui (周麗惠) in May 2011 to help with the company’s projects over 35 tracts of land adjacent to in Sindian District’s (新店) Beiyi Road.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The project had been stalled at the committee because the proper documents had not been submitted, sources said.
Kuo allegedly returned to Hsu for more favors to expedite processes in 2012, 2013 and last year, using Chou and Chou Chia-shuan (周佳萱), an accountant at Hongsheng Development and according to a report in the Chinese-language Apple Daily, Chou Li-hui’s niece, as the handlers, the district office said.
Baosing had allegedly offered, via Chou Li-hui, NT$110,000 to Hsu every month starting from May 2011, NT$40,000 per month to Hsu’s son Hsu Shih-yun (許士耘) and Hsu Chih-chien’s elder brother, Hsu Chih-yuan (許志遠), and a personal up-front monthly payment of NT$30,000 to Hsu Chih-chien, the office said.
Le Young Construction Co (樂揚建設) allegedly approached Hsu to help facilitate project application for construction in Banciao District (板橋) that would involve six tracts of land through real-estate agent Tsai Che-yi (蔡哲義) in May last year, the office said.
Le Young Construction president Tsou Hsueh-e (鄒雪娥) allegedly gave Hsu a Chopard brand watch costing NT$216,750 in December 2012 and two bars of gold each weighing 5g worth NT$473,500 in May last year to have the project bumped up in the committee procedures, the office said.
Hsu also accepted another two watches, another from Chopard and one from Chanel, from Tsou and Chou Li-hui on May 11 last year, the office said.
Up until he resigned as deputy mayor on June 29 last year, Hsu Chih-chien allegedly received NT$6.52 million in cash and fund transfers, three branded watches and two gold bars for a total of NT$7.39 million in bribes, the office said.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby
RSS