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.
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