Former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Kuo Wen-cheng (郭玟成) was indicted yesterday on charges of accepting money from a bus company in return for lobbying for the firm.
Prosecutors asked the Taipei District Court for a seven-year prison sentence for Kuo.
They said that in 2006, the National Freeway Bureau found Solar Bus operating a number of routes that were not approved by the bureau and suspended the company’s toll privileges.
Prosecutors said the bus company asked Kuo to lobby for it to restore the firm’s preferential toll discounts.
Kuo, who was then a member of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, filed a complaint with the bureau and lobbied on the bus company’s behalf, prosecutors said, adding that the bureau agreed to restore Solar Bus’ toll privileges.
Prosecutors alleged Solar Bus president Lin Yi-feng (林義風) gave Kuo NT$2 million (US$66,800) when the then-lawmaker ran for re-election in 2007.
Kuo said the money was a political donation and therefore legal, but prosecutors said that based on the Legislators’ Conduct Act (立法委員行為法), lawmakers cannot accept money in exchange for lobbying services.
Kuo yesterday reiterated that the money he received was clean and legal.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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