A former deputy chairman of the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) questioned in connection with a corruption investigation was released on bail by Taipei prosecutors late on Tuesday.
The official is alleged to have illegally profited from a sports association that co-organized the nationwide torch relay in support of the UN membership bid using the name Taiwan in October 2007.
Taipei prosecutors released former SAC deputy chairman Lee Kao-hsiang (李高祥) on NT$500,000 bail, while former SAC chairman Yang Jong-her (楊忠和) was released without bail.
Taipei prosecutors said the SAC allowed the Chinese Taipei Road Running Association to co-host the event, but prosecutors received complaints that the association only spent around NT$2 million (US$60,000) on the event, although it said it spent NT$16 million, including almost NT$6 million the SAC allocated to the association.
Prosecutors said they suspected former SAC officials and officials from the running association pocketed the money. They said while the SAC gave the Government Information Office a budget of NT$2 million to buy TV commercials and newspaper ads to promote the event, the running association also listed those items as expenses.
Prosecutors raided the office of the running association on Tuesday morning and then summoned Yang, Lee, running association secretary-general Sunny Chen (陳華恆) and four other people for questioning, but only Lee was released on bail.
The event was held on Oct. 24, 2007.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
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TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) yesterday authorized the execution of convicted murderer Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), the first death row prisoner to be put to death since President William Lai (賴清德) took office. Huang was to be executed via a firing squad yesterday evening, which would leave Taiwan with 36 convicts on death row. Huang on Oct. 1, 2013, broke into his ex-girlfriend Wang Ping-chih’s (王品智) residence in New Taipei City, where he raped and murdered Wang. He also killed Wang’s mother. Huang was bitter over the breakup and her accusation that he had stolen NT$200,000 (US$6,074) from her bank account, prosecutors said