Four people were detained and questioned for their suspected roles in a procurement scandal, which involved the development of mobile radar systems at the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), Taiwan’s top military hardware development center, and a computer component supplier.
Public prosecutors in Taoyuan, where the institute’s headquarters are located, took into custody three staff and a manager from the Taiwanese contractor company MiTAC for questioning on Wednesday, with all four suspects detained and held incommunicado as of yesterday.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said the case concerned forgery of data and fabrication of evaluation results in the procurement of “Radar Vehicle for Field Operation and Air Defense,” which was undertaken by the Digital Warfare Section of the CSIST Information and Communications Research Division.
The program was commissioned in May, 2011, by the Ministry of National Defense Armaments Bureau as a pilot project to develop a vehicle-mounted mobile radar system equipped with a “radar signal generator.”
Computer manufacturer MiTAC won the contract order, with one radar vehicle unit costing about NT$70 million (US$2.22 million).
The tender called for the vehicle to be capable of carrying the radar equipment payload with great “slope-climbing ability” to prevent it from toppling over when the vehicle is advancing at 8kph up a 40o incline.
Investigators said that they uncovered forged evaluation results, adding that the vehicle could only advanced at about 6kph up a slope.
The evaluation was done at the institute’s vehicle research and testing center, and its report was presented to the Digital Warfare Section and MiTAC.
Prosecutors alleged three CSIST staff at the Digital Warfare Section responsible for the project altered the test results in collusion with the MiTAC manager, presenting the vehicle as meeting required specifications, and having passed the final approval and acceptance test for the project.
After receiving a tip-off, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office carried out an investigation and allegedly found evidence of forgery and tampered evaluation results.
They detained the three CSIST staff — section head Chou Chih-lung (周志隆), researcher Wu Chewng-hsun (吳政勳) and technician Hsiao Chen-yi (蕭振益), and MiTAC’s IT engineering section manager Wu Chun-lin (武俊麟) on Wednesday.
Although during questioning all four denied having committed the alleged violations, prosecutors have indicted them on forgery, profiteering and other offenses, while requesting the suspects be detained incommunicado to prevent possible collusion and destruction of evidence.
VOTERS’ CHOICE: The DPP’s Chen and independent candidate Huang conceded defeat before 7:20pm, with Chiang pledging to remain humble and do his best Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday won the Taipei mayoral election, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate defeating the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) pick, former minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), and former Taipei deputy mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), an independent. After polling stations closed at 4pm, the Taipei Election Commission issued a preliminary estimate that voter turnout in the city was about 64 percent, slightly lower than in 2018. Chiang, 43, is to be the youngest Taipei mayor ever, with the KMT regaining the capital after eight years. Chen had an exceptionally high national approval rating when he was head
A naval landing craft on Thursday sank near Kinmen County after wet weather and rough seas flooded its cabin, the Naval Fleet Command said. The vessel, called Landing Craft Mechanized 1326, had completed transport and replenishment missions in the county and was returning to Taiwan proper when surging waves flooded the cabin, the navy said in a statement. The craft’s five crew members tried to bail out the water to no avail, the Navy said. The landing craft eventually sank off Kinmen’s Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣) at 5:18pm, although all crew members rescued, it said, adding that the precise cause of the sinking
FAMILY BACKGROUND: Chiang was effective in running a cautious campaign to avoid making mistakes, waiting for other candidates to slip up, an analyst said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei Mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) stood out among his rivals due to his energy, his die-hard supporters and his relative openness to discuss issues such as same-sex marriage, a political analyst said yesterday. Chiang’s campaign was also aided by his family’s background in politics, which helped him garner greater support in Taipei where there is a large KMT base, said the analyst, who chose to remain anonymous. “Chiang is also not a typical KMT member when it comes to certain issues, such as gay marriage, and his more open stance widened his support base — particularly among young
TOURIST HOTSPOT: The air charter services would drastically cut travel time to the world-renowned beach with its service to Caticlan, instead of Kalibo Royal Air Philippines is to launch next month direct flights between Taiwan and the Philippine city of Caticlan, a closer entry point to tourist hotspot Boracay. The airline will initially offer six charter flights between Dec. 26 and Jan. 15, with the flight frequency increasing to one per day during the Lunar New Year and winter holidays from Jan. 19 to Feb. 8, it announced at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. The charter flight services will drastically cut travel time to Boracay to about two hours and 45 minutes. Before the new route is launched, travelers from Taiwan who
RSS