Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) accused the Xinyi District (信義) Police Precinct of having received bribes from nightclubs and other entertainment businesses within its jurisdiction, amounting to running a protection racket.
Chung said he got the inside information direct from a nightclub owner.
“There are three different groups in the Xinyi District Police Precinct who receive ‘protection money,’ and each establishment pays up to NT$100,000 each month,” said Chung, alleging a top policeman surnamed Shih (石), former deputy chief at the precinct, demanded the highest price, about NT$100,000 to NT$150,000 from each club every month.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Chung filed an official complaint with the Taipei City Police Department’s Office of Ethics yesterday.
Chung said Hsueh was among the most corrupt members of the police force, alleging Hsueh played the role of a “white glove” intermediary, collecting bribes and distributing them among his precinct associates.
“I take legal responsibility on these charges. I am willing to give up my judicial immunity as a city councilor,” Chung said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
In related developments, three military personnel have been implicated in last Sunday’s killing of an off-duty police officer outside the Spark ATT nightclub in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
Police detective Hsueh Chen-kuo (薛貞國) was beaten to death in a brawl involving about 50 people. Wan Shao-cheng (萬少丞), who allegedly played a key role in the case, turned himself in to the police on Friday following a manhunt.
A report in the Chinese-language United Evening News yesterday implicated three military police officers, Wang Pei-an (王培安), Tung Yu-tang (董玉堂) and Ma Yin-hung (馬寅紘), who are in the 202nd Military Police Command, under which is the Military Police 211st Barracks, responsible for patrol and security around the Presidential Office Building.
In response to the United Evening News report, Ministry of Defense spokesman Colonel David Lo (羅紹和) yesterday said that only Tung is a military police officer. The other two are army soldiers, he said.
Lo confirmed that Tung is in the 202nd Military Police Command, but said that “Tung’s unit is for logistics support. He is not part of the 211st Barracks, and has no role in the security of the president or the vice president.”
During questioning by investigators, Tung was quoted as saying that he saw the incident unfold, but did not take part in the fighting. Wang and Ma also were quoted as saying that they were just passing by, and were not involved in the case.
Investigators said they were looking into the trio’s testimony.
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
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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