Shilin prosecutors yesterday indicted 15 individuals for their alleged involvement in a corruption case concerning the renovation of the National Palace Museum's main exhibition hall.
The prosecutors asked the Shilin District Court to sentence former director of the museum Shih Shou-chien (
Prosecutors requested that architect Lo Hsien-hua (羅興華) be given a 15-year sentence.
Prosecutors said that the 15 defendants had all been charged with corruption.
Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝), a former director of the museum, was however not indicted, although the renovation project was conceived and drafted during his stint as director.
Tu has said he was not involved in the renovations and that his assistants were solely in charge of the project.
Prosecutors decided that officials at the museum assisted Lo, who won part of the reconstruction project for the main hall, in embezzling more than NT$30 million (US$900,000).
Prosecutors said in the indictment that "as a director of the museum, Shih did not protect the nation's funds, but inflated the budgets for Lo and other firms and therefore he should receive a heavy sentence."
Prosecutors allege that the officials illegally aided two other companies in a land conservation project to protect the museum, which is located in the hills.
At issue was a NT$385 million renovation project. After submitting its project proposal to the legislature, the museum then altered more than 1,000 specifications in the reconstruction plans, which inflated the budget to NT$600 million.
The renovation of the National Palace Museum's main exhibition hall began in 2002 and was completed last year.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face