Former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) has been charged with corruption over an alleged NT$5 million (US$156,593) bribe to facilitate an industrial development project, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Prosecutors have recommended a 12-year prison sentence for Cheng, given that he has denied committing the crime which contravenes the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), as well as the substantial amount of the alleged bribe.
The Taoyuan District Court last month detained Cheng, who was being investigated for alleged corruption while he served as Taoyuan mayor from December 2014 to December 2022, and ordered that he be held incommunicado.
Photo: Cheng Shu-ting, Taipei Times
According to the indictment, Cheng of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) allegedly engaged in influence peddling and accepted the NT$5 million bribe to assist in land rezoning by designating a plot of farmland for industrial development, after being approached by a company jointly established by individuals surnamed Yang (楊), Liao (廖) and Hou (侯), who were looking to open a facility at the Hwa Ya Technology Park.
The rezoning would have paved the way for the 9.12- hectares of farmland acquired by the company to be included in the technology park as part of an expansion project, at a time when Micron Taiwan was planning to set up a plant in the industrial park, the indictment said.
Yang, Liao and Hou sought assistance from Cheng to have the farmland rezoned, taking advantage of the Micron project, so the two development plans could be approved and designated major national development projects under the Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan being promoted by the National Development Council (NDC) at the time, it said.
Thereafter, Cheng convened a series of municipal meetings from Dec. 13, 2016, asking the competent bureaus to seek major national development project status for the company’s plan, while instructing the municipal authorities to look into rezoning the land, it said.
On Sept. 7, 2017, Cheng called a municipal meeting on expanding the park and ordered officials to proceed with the rezoning, despite concerns expressed by several of those present, it said.
Following the meeting, Yang directed Liao and his son to take NT$5 million in cash in a black holdall to the reception room at Cheng’s official residence on Sept. 14 to thank Cheng in person for his assistance, according to the indictment.
On Oct. 3 that year, Cheng signed the document approving the rezoning, and told Liao on the phone "I’ve talked with the NDC" a few days later, the indictment said.
While Cheng was quoted by prosecutors as saying he did not know the bag given to him contained the cash and that he had returned the bag to them the following year, the indictment yesterday rejected Cheng’s account, saying that he was aware it contained the cash as the original batches were bundled using bank-issued wrappers, whereas the cash that he returned was bundled in rubber bands.
The indictment said Cheng returned the cash only after he was informed by an unknown public official that investigators had tapped the Liaos’ telephone.
Prosecutors said they had set up a different task force probing the identity of the informers.
Ten other people were also indicted in the case yesterday.
When asked for comment, DPP spokesperson Tai Wei-shan (戴瑋姍) yesterday said that the party respects the judiciary.
Additional reporting by Yu Jui-jen
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck off the southern coast of Mindanao in the Philippines at 7:38am today, prompting the US Tsunami Warning System to issue an alert for neighboring countries, including Taiwan. The system issued a purple alert indicating a "tsunami threat." The potential threat zone includes Taiwan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Yap and Palau. A spokesperson for Indonesia disaster mitigation agency said there were no reports of damage so far. Arlene Hollero, disaster chief of Maasim town in the Philippines' Sarangani Province, said their evacuation was underway in coastal villages and there were no reported casualties so far. DZBB radio, broadcasting from the
RESILIENCE: Taiwan plays a key role in semiconductors, energy, information infrastructure and advanced manufacturing, AIT Director Raymond Greene said Taiwan’s continued investment in deterrence and resilience remains vital, especially in uncrewed systems and other emerging technologies, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday. Greene made the remarks at the annual National Strategic Summit on Supply Chain Resilience held by the Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET), a government-backed think tank. As Taiwan last year became the US’ fourth-largest trading partner and supply chain security is becoming more important, cooperation in emerging technologies continues to deepen between the two countries, he said. The US is committed to accelerating innovation, building key infrastructure, strengthening cooperation
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RIGHT DIRECTION: Taiwan’s efforts to prevent forced labor include a proposal to ‘fully prohibit’ employers from withholding workers’ documents, an official said Taiwan is to establish a mechanism to restrict imports of goods linked to forced labor, the Executive Yuan said yesterday, after the US proposed imposing additional tariffs on Taiwanese goods over labor concerns. “The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Economic Affairs are to establish an interministerial review procedure,” Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “The government is to use the Foreign Trade Act [貿易法] as the legal basis to restrict imports of goods produced with forced labor” and bring its supply chain governance more in line with international standards on human rights, resilience
RSS