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
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