The Control Yuan said yesterday that it was clear inferior materials had been used in the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, and the government's failure to get detailed records of the construction work violated regulations for public construction projects.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) said yesterday that the ministry would leave open the possibility disciplining more officials for the flaws, after 22 officials were punished last month.
The task force investigating the scandal comprised four Control Yuan members: Huang Wu-tzu (黃武次), Chao Chang-ping (趙昌平), Chao Ron-yaw (趙榮耀) and Leu Hsi-muh (呂溪木).
They questioned high-ranking officials, including Chen, and found that there was no construction journal, as regulations require.
"At present, only workers at the site write down the progress of the job, but they do not have an official journal to record details, which contravenes current regulations," Huang said.
Another member of the task force singled out China Shipbuilding Corp, the main contractor for the power plant's construction, for criticism.
"Nuclear safety is very important. China Shipbuilding Corp did not do well in terms of monitoring the construction," Chao Chang-ping said.
CSBC Deputy General Manager Fan Kuang-nan (范光男) yesterday said that the company did not realize that the subcontractors were using inferior materials for the reactor's pedestal.
After being questioned by the task force, Chen said that he respected the Control Yuan's right to investigate and that he will form a investigation team within the ministry to find out the details of the case, including whether the correct procedures for hiring subcontractors had been followed.
"We will finish the report within a month and hand it to the Control Yuan's task force for their reference," Chen said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers concerned about the case yesterday visited Chu Nan (朱楠), the prosecutor-general of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office (高雄地檢署), and gave him documents and papers he had demanded.
Independent lawmaker Sisy Chen (
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
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