Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) and Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) Chief Secretary Hung Chia-hung (洪嘉宏) were released on bail yesterday morning following overnight questioning about allegations of graft involving public construction projects.
Chao was release after posting NT$10 million (US$304,859) bail, while Hung was released on NT$1 million bail.
Others questioned by prosecutors and Agency Against Corruption investigators were also released yesterday after posting bail. These included former Farglory deputy chairman Wei Chun-hsiung (魏春雄), on NT$5 million bail, Hung family friend Huang Ching-ming (黃慶銘), on NT$3 million bail, and Hung’s wife, Lin Tzu-yi (林姿儀), on NT$500,000.
Hung is suspected of receiving more than NT$10 million in bribes from Wei, under Chao’s instructions, between November 2013 and May last year, prosecutors said.
At that time, when Hung was the section chief for CPA’s urban and rural development division, Farglory was able to secure five public construction projects, of which the case administration and public tender process were handled by Hung’s office.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Hung influenced the five projects, resulting in Farglory securing the bids for rebuilding military dependents’ villages and neighborhoods as part of urban renewal programs in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan.
To avoid making direct contact, Hung allegedly sent his wife, Huang, Huang’s wife, Liao Chia-chan (廖佳展), and another family friend, Su Mei-fei (蘇美妃), as intermediaries to meet and negotiate terms with Farglory officials.
Prosecutors said they suspect Hung may have used the bank accounts of these four intermediary figures to receive transfers of bribe money from Farglory officials.
The probe is related to an earlier corruption probe and conviction against Chao and former Taoyuan County deputy commissioner Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文), in which Farglory allegedly paid NT$22 million to Yeh, when he headed up CPA as its director-general in 2011, to allow the firm to secure a number of public housing construction projects.
Prosecutors said the cases were not only related, but that the method used by Chao and his Farglory executives to contract and negotiate with CPA officials were similar.
Other government officials might implicated in the probe, the prosecutors added.
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
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