Prosecutors yesterday indicted Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科), other officials and contractors on charges of profiting from bribes and misuse of public authority in connection with a real-estate project.
Yang, a second-term Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) county commissioner, and Chiang Liang-yuan (江良淵), Yang’s senior secretary and a former head of the county government’s Public Works Department, were two of the officials indicted, along with Fong Yi Construction Co (豐邑機構) chairman Liu Shu-chu (劉樹居), general manager Chiu Tsung-tse (邱崇?) and two engineers who were project site supervisors.
Prosecutors initiated a probe of the Wonder World 520 project in Jhubei City (竹北) after allegations that mismanagement and negligence had led to eight incidents of partial collapses of walls as foundations were being dug and subsidence from March 2022 to the middle of last year.
Photo: CNA
The incidents led to evacuations of nearby residents.
Investigators said that Fong Yi Construction executives in 2022 donated to Yang’s re-election campaign, alleging that there were “improper links between government officials and business for illegal profit.”
Yang and Chiang allegedly put pressure on subordinates to allow Fong Yi Construction to restart work even after a collapse damaged the site and surrounding buildings, Hsinchu prosecutor Wang Yuan-chih (王遠志) said.
The indictment said that NT$250 million (US$7.66 million) in illegal profit had been made, while Chiang had NT$12.4 million in cash, and Yang had NT$698,500 in gold coins and jewelry, Wang said, adding that they were allegedly bribes from Yong Yi Construction.
“As county commissioner, Yang has a duty to uphold the public interest, and protect the lives and properties of residents, but despite numerous collapse incidents, he only listened to the developer and pressured other officials to allow the project to restart,” the indictment said.
“He enabled all sides to reap financial benefits, including offers by Fong Yi Construction for the free use of office space, meals and other expenses during the 2022 campaign,” it said.
Separately, Taipei prosecutors indicted relatives of KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) in a money laundering case.
Hsu’s sister-in-law, Liu Hsiang-chieh (劉向婕), and Liu Hsiang-chieh’s husband, Tu Ping-cheng (杜秉澄), a friend of the couple named Lin Yu-lun (林于倫) and Liu Hsiang-chieh’s personal assistant, Wu Yi-san (吳沂珊), were indicted over their alleged involvement in an operation that made NT$27 million in illegal profit from cash transfers between criminal groups, prosecutors said.
Evidence indicates that Tu headed the operation, which involved converting New Taiwan dollars into cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.
Hsu lent NT$1 million to her relatives, an exchange that was allegedly connected to Tu’s operation, prosecutors added.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS