Minister of the Interior Liao Liao-yi (廖了以) said yesterday that he had asked the ministry’s ethics office to refer an embezzlement case allegedly involving dozens of National Immigration Agency (NIA) officials to the Taipei Public Prosecutors Office for investigation.
Liao made the remark while answering questions from reporters about a newspaper report that said the immigration agency had failed to return a surplus of NT$3.07 million (US$101,000) from an airport computer project to the treasury.
COMPUTER PROJECT
The NIA won a NT$35.38 million project from the National Security Bureau to set up computer systems at five airports — Taipei Songshan Airport, Hsiaokang Airport in Kaohsiung, Shangyi Airport on Kinmen and two airports in Matsu — and link the news systems with the database at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The computer upgrade was part of government preparations for boosting the number of Chinese tourists.
The upgraded system was also intended to help prevent convicted criminals from fleeing the nation.
REWARD SCHEME
A report in yesterday’s Chinese-language China Times said the immigration agency had failed to return the leftover money as required by law when the project was completed at the end of 2006, and used the funds to reward 44 officials, some of whom were apparently not involved in the computer project.
The report said former agency director Wu Chen-chi (吳振吉) and deputy director Wu Hsueh-yen (吳學燕) each received NT$40,000, while chief secretary Ho Jung-tsun (何榮村) was given NT$50,000.
The rewards for other staff members responsible for the project ranged between NT$5,000 and NT$150,000.
The 44 officials are “suspected of having committed collective embezzlement,” the newspaper said.
The NIA deputy director said the agency had received approval from the National Security Bureau to spend the NT$3.08 million to reward officials involved in the computer project and there were no irregularities in how the money was used.
Also See: Minister promises to cut requirement for spousal visas
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS