Taipei prosecutors yesterday charged three legislators and one former lawmaker with contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) in a case linked to former Pacific Distribution Investment Co (太平洋流通) chairman Lee Heng-lung’s (李恆隆) battle with the Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) over ownership of the Pacific SOGO Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨) chain, while independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇) was indicted in a separate case involving two funeral services companies and a plot of land in a national park.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and former New Power Party legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) were indicted for allegedly taking bribes from Lee, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Also indicted were Lee, Su’s former aide Kuo Ke-ming (郭克銘) and four of the lawmakers’ aides, as well as Trend Survey and Research Co (趨勢民意調查股份有限公司) general manager Wu Shih-chang (吳世昌), who is accused of helping Lee hold public hearings.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chen Yu-ping (陳玉萍) said that the five politicians allegedly conspired with wealthy conglomerates for personal profit, which had endangered the nation’s governance based on fairness and justice, and subverted the rules of ethical conduct for officials and civil bureaucrats.
“The cases also severely undermined the Constitution’s separation of powers between the branches of government, through the Legislative Yuan’s power to interfere with the Executive Yuan’s power and obstruct the power of the Judicial Yuan,” she said.
“They have resulted in political turmoil, and immense damage to our constitutional order and liberal democracy. Therefore, we have asked the court to mete out heavy punishment with the strongest sentences as a deterrent,” she added.
In their indictments, prosecutors said that Lee had made payments to the four lawmakers since 2013 to buy influence and help him regain ownership of Pacific SOGO, one of the most profitable department store chains in the nation.
Lee has been fighting with Far Eastern Group chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) over Pacific SOGO’s ownership since the early 2000s.
At the heart of the issue is whether Far Eastern’s capital injection of NT$4.01 billion (US$137.53 million at the current exchange rate) into Pacific SOGO from 2002 to 2008 was legal and gave it ownership by making it the largest shareholder.
As elected representatives, the five had the responsibility to exercise their legislative power for the benefit of all citizens, to check the power of government authorities against individuals, and to avoid conflicts of interests, the prosecutors’ office said in a statement.
“However, Su and other legislators allegedly willingly engaged in corrupt activities from 2012 to the time of their arrest, taking bribes to sell their power as legislators, turning into servants of businessman Lee Heng-lung, while abusing their power as legislators to hold public hearings, and use negotiation sessions, budget reviews and legislators’ interpellation periods to intimidate and threaten government officials, to reach the decision desired by Lee Heng-lung,” the statement said.
Prosecutors suspect the bribes allegedly paid since 2013 were aimed at pressuring the Ministry of Economic Affairs to amend the Company Act’s (公司法) clauses on capital increases and make them retroactive so that Pacific Distribution Investment could maintain control of Pacific SOGO, after the Supreme Administrative Court ruled, in the final verdict in the case, that Far Eastern Group was the rightful owner.
Lee last year sold part of his shares in Pacific Distribution Investment to a new company so he could continue his battle under the new firm’s name.
Prosecutors have alleged that the quartet received money from Lee to pressure the ministry on his behalf.
The men responded by holding a round of public hearings in December last year to pressure the ministry to change the Company Act, they said.
Prosecutors said they believe that Kuo, who now runs a political consulting company, served as an intermediary for Lee in delivering the bribes, as well as bribes allegedly given to Chao in the other case.
Prosecutors also alleged that Su accepted more than NT$25.8 million from Lee, while Sufin allegedly took NT$7.9 million and Chen NT$1 million.
As for independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇), the prosecutors’ office said he took bribes from two funeral service companies to pressure the Construction and Planning Agency to allow a cemetery to be built in a national park.
The agency did change the zoning of the land to make it available for private use.
During a raid of Chao’s home in Taoyuan’s Bade District (八德), prosecutors found NT$9.2 million in cash in a bag, which is believed to be the bribe Kuo delivered to the lawmaker on behalf of the two firms.
A bail hearing for Chen, Sufin, Su and Chao at the Taipei District Court was ongoing as of press time last night.
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