New Taipei City Department of Land Administration deputy director-general Wang Sheng-wen (王聖文) was found dead on Tuesday in an apparent suicide after prosecutors searched his residence in Taoyuan in connection with a construction license application corruption investigation.
Nine contractors, including Ching Tsuan Construction Co (晶鑽建設) manager Lee Chia-hsiang (李嘉詳), were questioned by New Taipei City district prosecutors and Agency Against Corruption agents on suspicion of bribing city officials.
The New Taipei City District Court later approved a request to have Lee detained incommunicado.
Photo: He Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The nine allegedly bribed Wang and two officials at the Taipei Department of Urban Development in 2010 when they were applying for a construction permit for an eight-story building on Xinhu Road in Taipei’s Neihu Technology Park.
Prosecutors said that Wang and his wife were present when they searched his Taoyuan residence on Tuesday morning and that Wang had been cooperative.
Sources said Wang had apparently jumped from the eighth floor of his residential building on Tuesday afternoon.
He was rushed to hospital, but was declared dead on arrival.
“The entire process had gone smoothly and peacefully, and we do not understand why Wang would commit suicide,” prosecutors said, adding that Wang was not listed as a defendant in the case.
Wang left a letter saying he had not accepted money from two individuals, whose names have been withheld by the district prosecutors’ office due to the sensitivity of the case.
Wang’s family said he did not leave a will or any other statement other than the letter.
Police said they had asked the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office to order an autopsy on Wang to confirm the cause of death.
In addition, the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office had asked the Department of Land Administration to provide data on recent development projects.
In response, the department said it had asked the district prosecutors’ office “to clarify its request, because the department does not understand which files or projects it wants.”
Taipei Department of Urban Development Deputy Commissioner Chang Kang-wei (張剛維) said prosecutors had seized a document from the department on Monday night, adding that he would fully cooperate with the investigation.
Additional reporting by Chen Wei-tzu and Chung Hung-liang
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS