Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰) was released on bail of NT$2 million (US$66,650) yesterday afternoon by the Keelung District Court after the Taiwan High Court a day earlier ordered the district court to reconsider its previous decision to release him on bail.
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office asked on Wednesday that Huang be detained on suspicion of influence peddling in a number of construction projects, while the district court on Thursday morning ruled that Huang be released on bail of NT$1.2 million, but barred him from traveling overseas.
After prosecutors appealed the ruling with the Taiwan High Court, the High Court on Thursday ordered the district court to reconsider whether to detain Huang, adding that Huang has not cleared up the source of NT$5 million in cash that was found in his office by investigators.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Huang made six telephone calls and sent two text messages to a woman surnamed Chang (張) while investigators were searching his office, suggesting he might conspire on statements if he is set free, the High Court said.
The district court held a hearing at 11am yesterday and announced at 5pm that Huang was to be released on NT$2 million bail.
The district prosecutors’ office immediately appealed the decision with the High Court for the second time.
Huang, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of involvement in pressuring Keelung City Government officials on construction projects.
The prosecutors on Tuesday found stashes of cash in New Taiwan dollars and Chinese renminbi with an estimated total value of NT$5 million in Huang’s office.
In other news, former Chiayi County council speaker Yu Cheng-tah (余政達) was placed on the wanted list yesterday by the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office after he failed to report to the office to serve a prison term.
The warrant will remain in effect for 50 years, until 2064.
The 53-year-old’s guilty verdict, for soliciting a bribe of NT$1 million from local businessmen in 2007 when the county organized street fairs for the Taiwan Lantern Festival, was upheld by the Supreme Court on May 22.
In the final verdict on the case, the Supreme Court gave Yu a prison sentence of 10 years and four months, and suspended his civil rights for five years.
Yu was reported missing right after the Supreme Court’s announcement was made.
The office said it issued a warrant ordering Yu, an independent, to turn himself in on June 6 to start his sentence, but Yu failed to arrive at the office.
The office suspected that Yu might have fled to China or another country.
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
RSS