The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday indicted former Hualien County Council speaker Yang Wen-chih (楊文值), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, and 26 others on charges of corruption and violating the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法).
The other defendants include Yang Wen-chih’s cousin, Yang Shih-hung (楊士弘), who was also an elected member of the Hualien City Council, alleged midddleman Weng Yao-tsai (翁耀財), Matsui Tiger Taiwan Engineering Corp (泰格開發有限公司) staff and representatives of seven other contractors.
The indictment alleges that Yang Wen-chih acted in collusion with contractors to rig 10 public construction projects in Hualien County to ensure that only certain firms would win the bids, a violation of Article 87 of the Government Procurement Act.
Prosecutors said they have evidence that Yang Wen-chih took kickbacks amounting to between 25 and 35 percent of the total cost of at least 10 projects between 2009 and last year.
They said that as council speaker, Yang Wen-chih was able to influence most of the KMT council members and push inflated budgets for the 10 projects though the council.
The prosecutors alleged that Yang Wen-chih shared the kickbacks he received with Yang Shih-hung and Weng, who had helped organized the project tenders, and that they had traced the transactions in the bank accounts belonging to the suspects.
Investigators alleged the three main suspects made tens of millions of NT dollars in kickbacks and other bribes.
The alleged corruption came to light in February when investigators said they found Yang Shih-hung and Weng had joined with Matsui Tiger Taiwan to rig the tender for a NT$15.1 million (US$488,168) Hualien County Council Building project.
A first shipment of five tons of Taiwan tilapia was sent from Tainan to Singapore on Wednesday, following an order valued at NT$600,000 (US$20,500) placed with a company in the city. The products, including frozen whole fish and pre- cooked fish belly, were dispatched from Jiangjun Fishing Harbor, where a new aquatic processing and logistics center is under construction. At the launch, Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) called the move a “breakthrough,” marking Taiwan’s expansion into the Singaporean tilapia market. Taiwan’s tilapia exports have traditionally focused on the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, Huang said, adding that the new foothold in
An electric bus charging facility at Taipei Metro’s Beitou Depot officially opened yesterday with 22 charging bays to serve the city’s 886 electric buses. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) told a ceremony to mark the opening of the facility that the city aims to fully electrify its bus fleet by 2030. The number of electric buses has grown from about 650 last year to 886 this year and is expected to surpass 1,000 by the end of the year, Chiang said. Setting up the charging station in a metro depot optimizes land and energy use, as the metro uses power mainly during the
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
Traffic controls are to be in place in Taipei starting tonight, police said, as rallies supporting recall efforts targeting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers as well as a rally organized by the KMT opposing the recall campaigns are to take place tomorrow. Traffic controls are to be in place on City Hall Road starting from 10pm tonight and on Jinan Road Section 1 starting from 8am tomorrow, police said. Recall campaign groups in Taipei and New Taipei advocating for the recall of KMT legislators, along with the Safeguard Taiwan, Anti-Communist Alliance (反共護台聯盟), have previously announced plans for motorcycle parades and public
RSS