Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday expressed doubt that former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) knew nothing about the corruption of two former Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS) officials in the MeHAS City development, saying that if Hau had no knowledge of the pair’s offenses, he “might as well be dead.”
Ko made the remarks in an afternoon interview on Super FM, when radio show host Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) asked his opinion on the case.
The court last month gave former DORTS development branch director Kao Chia-nung (高嘉濃) a 10-year prison sentence and former DORTS section chief Wang Ming-tsang (王銘藏) a four-year sentence for influence peddling over the MeHAS City project.
Photo: CNA
The development — carried out between 2007 and 2012 by Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生) in conjunction with DORTS — encompasses 9.3 hectares of homes, offices and stores in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) next to the Xiaobitan MRT station.
The court said Hau was not convicted since he “was deceived into believing” forged numbers embedded by the pair in a property valuation, which cost the Taipei City Government an estimated NT$590 (US$17.52 million).
No bribes were found to have been distributed in the case, but no one from Hau’s administration stepped in to stop the the malpractice either, Ko said.
“What audacity this director and division chief had. Is it possible? You just think about it,” Ko said.
When asked whether he believed Hau had been unaware of the corruption, Ko, responding in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) ,said: “Give me a break. If that is true, [Hau] might as well be dead.”
The two former officials would be “two wretches nestling on a cold shoulder” if they voluntarily undervalued the city government’s claim in the development project without anyone in Hau’s administration taking bribes or putting pressure on them, Ko added.
Later yesterday in response to media queries on whether he would worry about being deceived by his subordinates given that Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) last week accused his adviser and close aide Hung Chi-kune (洪智坤) of bribe-taking, Ko said he has ordered the city’s Department of Government Ethics to investigate the allegation.
Wang alleged that Hung took an eight-figure bribe from Farglory Group (遠雄集團) in exchange for resolving issues surrounding the controversial Taipei Dome project.
Regarding the possibility of his criticism hurting Hau’s chances of winning the legislative race in Keelung, Ko said his use of the Hoklo expression could have exaggerated his meaning.
He said his remark would not affect Hau’s campaign too much, as he is not running in Taipei.
He refused to apologize to Hau.
“If he does not know how to respect others, he should respect his position as Taipei mayor,” Hau said after hearing of Ko’s remarks.
Ko’s remark was aimed at manipulating the elections and he and his attorney would consider filing a lawsuit against him, Hau added.
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
The Taipei City Government yesterday confirmed that it has negotiated a royalties of NT$12.2 billion (US$380 million) with artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant Nvidia Corp, with the earliest possible signing date set for Wednesday next week. The city has been preparing for Nvidia to build its Taiwan headquarters in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park since last year, and the project has now entered its final stage before the contract is signed. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city government has completed the royalty price negotiations and would now push through the remaining procedures to sign the contract before
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was agreed by both sides, after Lithuania’s prime minister described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius as a “mistake.” Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene, who entered office in September last year, told the Baltic News Service on Tuesday that Lithuania had begun taking “small first steps” aimed at restoring ties with Beijing. The ministry in a statement said that Taiwan and Lithuania are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. Since the establishment of the
Taipei Zoo welcomes the Lunar New Year this year through its efforts to protect an endangered species of horse native to central Asia that was once fully extinct outside of captivity. The festival ushering in the Year of the Horse would draw attention to the zoo’s four specimens of Przewalski’s horse, named for a Russian geographer who first encountered them in the late 19th century across the steppes of western Mongolia. “Visitors will look at the horses and think that since this is the Year of the Horse: ‘I want to get to know horses,’” said zookeeper Chen Yun-chieh, who has been
RSS