A detention hearing yesterday afternoon to review prosecutors’ request to detain five incumbent and former lawmakers accused of bribery was still ongoing as of press time last night.
The Taipei Prosecutors’ Office was hoping to detain Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and former New Power Party legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) over their alleged involvement in a bribery case.
Prosecutors asked the Taipei District Court to detain them, citing the seriousness of the crimes and the possibility that they could collude to destroy evidence, or flee the nation.
Photo: Chen Wei-tzu, Taipei Times
They suspect Su of taking NT$20 million (US$677,920) in bribes, while the other lawmakers have been accused of taking bribes ranging from tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars to NT$2 million from former Pacific Distribution Investment Co (太平洋流通) chairman Lee Heng-lung (李恆隆). The bribes were allegedly taken since 2013 to help Lee in his legal battle against Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) over the ownership of the Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) chain.
Prosecutors on Saturday asked the court to detain Lee.
They also requested that independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) be detained for allegedly taking bribes to help two funeral service providers obtain a piece of land that was part of a national park.
Chao was alleged to have pressured the Construction and Planning Agency to allow a cemetery to be built on the land, with Su’s former aide Kuo Ke-ming (郭克銘), who now runs a political consulting company, allegedly serving as one of the two intermediaries responsible for delivering bribes to lawmakers and their assistants on behalf of Lee.
During a raid of Chao’s home on Friday, prosecutors found NT$9.2 million in cash in a bag, which is suspected to be the bribe Kuo paid to the lawmaker on behalf of the two companies.
The raid was part of a nationwide operation to question the five lawmakers and former DPP legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), 85, and search their offices and homes over the bribery allegations.
The other alleged intermediary, Tonlin Department Store (統領百貨) general manager Weng Hua-li (翁華利), was released on NT$2 million bail.
Lee has denied he paid bribes to lawmakers, describing the money as a loan to Su, without elaborating.
Lee has been in a legal fight against Far Eastern Group chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) over Pacific Sogo’s ownership since the early 2000s.
At the heart of the issue was whether Far Eastern’s capital injection of NT$4.01 billion from 2002 to 2008 was proper and gave it ownership of the chain by making it the biggest shareholder.
It was later found both legal and illegal in different courts during a long legal battle.
In the final verdict in 2013, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled the capital injections to be legal and that Far Eastern Group was the chain’s largest shareholder and rightful owner.
Prosecutors argued that Lee’s campaign to buy influence began after that ruling and has continued until today, as he remained determined to fight for ownership of the lucrative company.
They suspect the alleged bribes have been used to lobby the Ministry of Economic Affairs to amend Company Act (公司法) clauses on capital increases and make them retroactive so that his firm could maintain control of Pacific Sogo.
Additional reporting by Chang Wen-chuan
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