The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday requested the detention of Farglory Group (遠雄集團) founder Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) and New Taipei City Councilor Chou Sheng-kao (周勝考) on suspicion of bribery and embezzlement.
The detention hearing began at 8pm and was still in progress at press time last night.
Prosecutors said the case involves two parts: Chao’s alleged embezzlement of funds from Farglory Life Insurance Co (遠雄人壽) in 2007 and 2008, and alleged bribery of New Taipei City officials in 2013 to facilitate the rezoning of a former coal mine in Tucheng District (土城) and a factory in Sinjhuang District (新莊).
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The two parts are being handled by different units — with Taipei prosecutors investigating the embezzlement case and the Agency Against Corruption probing the bribery case.
With regard to the alleged embezzlement, paper trails from the investigation into an affordable housing project in then-Taoyuan County in 2014 shed light on the presence of four shell companies, the office said.
The companies, under the guise of consultants or designers, are suspected of siphoning nearly NT$100 million (US$3.29 million) from Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) and Farglory Life, it added.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Farglory Life president George Chao (趙信清) and Farglory Group Accountant Division deputy director Hsu Tzu-chiang (許自強) were summoned to answer questions on the alleged falsification of financial reports.
They were released on bail of NT$1 million and NT$500,000 respectively.
Farglory Land president Frank Chao (趙文嘉) was summoned as a witness and was the only person to be released without bail.
As for the rezoning case, Chao Teng-hsiung is suspected of bribing Chou and New Taipei City Urban and Rural Development Planning Department deputy chief engineer Hai Chih-ping (海治平) and Urban Planning Committee member Liu Yan-chiao (劉演交), the Agency Against Corruption said.
Chou was summoned to give a statement on allegations he took and offered bribes.
According to the agency, Hai and Liu had said during Thursday’s session that they had a history of financial borrowing and lending with Farglory, but denied that they had accepted bribes.
Former Farglory deputy chairman Wei Chun-hsiung (魏春雄) and former National Taipei University of Technology professor Tsai Jen-hui (蔡仁惠) allegedly played the same role as they had in the affordable housing case, with Wei offering bribes and Tsai serving as the intermediary.
New Taipei City Agricultural Department official Su Li-mei (蘇麗梅) and Department of Environmental Affairs official Lee Chang-kui (李長奎) were summoned to give statements on allegations of falsifying records.
They were released on bail of NT$60,000 and NT$80,000 respectively.
Hai and Liu were released on bail of NT$150,000 and NT$200,000 respectively, while Tsai was released on bail of NT$100,000.
Former Taiwan Architecture and Building Center CEO Hsu Ming-wen (許銘文), summoned for questioning on alleged profiteering, was released on bail of NT$500,000.
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