Two controversial illegal waste dumping cases in southern and central Taiwan ended temporarily yesterday when prosecutors indicted waste handlers, officials and industrial firms involved, proposing millions of dollars in fines and lengthy prison terms.
In Kaohsiung County, four officials involved in the operation of a waste incinerator in Meinung township (
The accused include former and current Meinung township wardens Chung Hsin-tsai (鍾新財) and Chung Shao-huei (鍾紹恢), as well as two former and current environmental officials, Lin Cheng-ming (林振明) and Huang Ming-ying (黃銘英).
Prosecutors asked that Chung Hsin-tsai and Lin be sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison and Chung Shao-huei and Huang be sentenced to five years each. It is believed that the accused earned at least NT$194 million by helping Sunny Friend Environmental Technology Co Ltd (日友公司), which runs the household waste incinerator.
According to prosecutors, who have spent nine months investigating the case, in 1997 the officials proposed building an incinerator in a buffer zone beside a river, where construction is prohibited.
Later, the officials forged documents to help Sunny Friend receive financial assistance for waste management from both the Cabinet's Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and local government.
Prosecutors said the officials also forged documents to help the company to obtain an operating license from the local government.
The prosecutors also allege the company secretly burned industrial waste in the incinerator and dumped toxic fly ash and bottom ash collected from the incinerator in a nearby river, which leads to the Kaoping River (
Hsinchu firms targeted
In related news, in Taichung, 19 people involved in an illegal toxic solvent discharge case were also indicted yesterday, including United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) Chairman John Hsuan (宣明智) and Vanguard International (世界先進) Chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀).
Officials for UMC and Vanguard yesterday declined to comment on the indictments, saying that they had not yet received copies of the court documents.
In October, at a site in Wuji township in Taichung County, prosecutors -- accompanied by environmental protection officials -- caught workers hired by Ho Hsing Barrel Co (
EPA officials said that toxic solvents -- including potassium hydroxide, silica and hydrofluoric acid -- might have seriously polluted the soil where it was dumped and may have contaminated the nearby Tatu River (大肚溪).
Prosecutors allege that the sources of the toxic waste solvents were several high-tech industrial firms, including UMC, Vanguard and Daiion (太洋新技), one of the Taiwan branches of Japanese firm Mitsubishi Chemicals. Two Japanese officials with Daiion were also indicted yesterday.
Under the Waste Disposal Act and the Toxic Chemical Substances Control Act, prosecutors indicted Tsai Fa-tzu (
Li Ching-yi (李慶義), spokesman for the Taiwan High Court's Prosecutors' Office Taichung Branch, said the toxic solvent corrosive hydrofluoric acid was produced by Hsinchu-based Daiion.
Daiion sold the solvent to Vanguard and promised to recycle used barrels. Daiion, however, did not do so. Instead, prosecutors contend Daiion sold used barrels to two barrels companies, which later sold the barrels to Ho Hsing.
Spokesman Li said that Daiion also sold solvent to UMC but did not promise to recycle used barrels. UMC authorized a waste handler, Yunglung Environmental Protection Inc (
The EPA has searched for sites that could serve as final disposal sites for industrial waste in order to meet the demands of industrial companies who claim to have suffered from a lack of legal waste handlers on the island.
Several illegal waste dumping cases have been uncovered in recent years, especially in southern Taiwan.
The most notorious case occurred last July in Kaohsiung County when illegal dumping of toxic waste into the Kaoping River (高屏溪), left 3 million residents in and around Kaohsiung without drinking water for five days.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
RSS