Former Dingyue Development Corp (鼎越開發) president Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎) has admitted paying bribes in connection to the Core Pacific City case, the Taipei District Court said, which granted prosecutors’ request late on Saturday night to have him detained and held incommunicado for suspected corruption.
The court late on Saturday evening also approved a request by the Taipei District Court to detain chief financial officer of the Taiwan People’s Party’s (TPP) presidential campaign Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗).
The two were among 10 defendants accused of corruption by allegedly giving preferential treatment to Core Pacific City Co (京華城) during TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) tenure as Taipei mayor and expanding the floor area ratio (FAR) of the redevelopment project in 2020 to boost the value of the property.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Chu and Lee were summoned for questioning by Taipei prosecutors and the Agency Against Corruption taskforce earlier on Saturday during which Chu admitted to paying bribes to city officials, court records showed.
The court ordered Lee to be detained for allegedly taking bribes, although he denied the allegations against him when questioned, court records showed.
Other suspects were also questioned, including Core Pacific supervisor Chang Chih-cheng (張志澄) and Core Pacific Group legal affairs manager Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源).
They were later released on bail of NT$2.5 million (US$78,894) and NT$1.5 million respectively.
Prosecutors said that Chu of Dingyue Development Corp, a subsidiary of Core Pacific Group (威京集團), and Lee played the role of “white glove” intermediaries to channel bribes between Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko.
Prosecutors said Chu is facing bribery charges for contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and would be detained due to the high risk that he would flee abroad or collude on his testimony with other defendants.
Lee is facing charges of taking bribes and would be detained to prevent him from tampering with evidence or colluding on his testimony with other defendants.
Additional reporting by Chen Tsai-ling and CNA
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
RSS