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.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe