An investigation into possible malpractice by Taipei City Government officials in the bidding process of the construction of the Taipei Twin Towers has been closed after it failed to find substantial evidence of wrongdoing, while cases involving former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration that allegedly benefited Hon Hai Group and Fubon Group are under investigation by the Control Yuan, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
Ko made the remarks during an administrative report on the so-called “five cases of malpractice” at the Taipei City Council, where he also talked about planned hikes in water prices and bus fares.
The Taipei Twin Towers case was closed after a probe by the city’s Clean Government Committee could not find any major negligence or illegality on the part of city officials, Ko said, adding that the city government would respect the verdict passed down by the Taipei District Court.
The court last year sentenced former Taipei city councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如), one of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) close aides, to a prison term of 10 years and deprivation of civil rights of five years over her acceptance of a NT$1 million (US$30,486) bribe from Taipei Gateway International Development Co and helping the firm secure the bid for the construction.
As to the Hau administration’s alleged benefiting of Hon Hai while setting the superficy rights when the corporation won the build-operate-transfer (BOT) bid to build the Syntrend Creative Park on land owned by the city, which the city government said would cost it financial losses over the life of the BOT contract, Ko said that the plan had been delivered to the Control Yuan for investigation.
The mayor said that Hon Hai had made changes to the floor plan of the main building in the complex, which would add about NT$2.7 million in annual royalty payments that Hon Hai is to pay the city government, and the increased revenue would be used to boost the development of the complex and the Bade (八德) commercial district where it is situated.
On the MeHAS housing complex, which is built on remaining plots of land seized from Taipei residents to build the Xindian Depot for operations of the mass rapid transit system’s Songshan-Xindian line, Ko said that the city had established a team to demand potential compensations from project owner Radium Life Tech Co, which reportedly total more than NT$22 billion.
More than 100 landowners had lodged a lawsuit against the city government, demanding that it compensate for the financial losses they suffered during the land expropriations, which was pronounced unconstitutional by the Council of Grand Justices last month.
On controversy surrounding the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, where the Eslite Group has started operations on floors in the Taipei New Horizon building which it leased from Fubon, Ko said that the city and Fubon last month signed a revised contract raising royalty payments to be paid by Eslite from 0.5 percent of the rent it pays Fubon to 0.5 percent of revenues generated from all facilities Eslite runs.
These facilities include a department store, a hotel and a venue for cultural and creative exhibitions and performances, the mayor said.
On ongoing negotiations between the city government and Farglory Group regarding the Taipei Dome project, Ko said that Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) has been put in charge of negotiating contractual terms with the corporation, while Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) is responsible for negotiations over how the company is to resolve safety issues caused by its deviations from the construction plan.
Ko said that Farglory had committed infractions in 79 areas of the dome’s construction, for which it has submitted revised construction plans which are currently being reviewed.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
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
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