Judicial investigators on Monday conducted raids and summoned Ministry of the Interior (MOI) officials in a probe into suspected bribery and bid rigging of government projects, as well as allegations of a security breach in which Chinese companies might have gained access to personal information of Taiwanese.
In an operation jointly conducted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, searches were carried out and 41 people were detained for questioning, mostly officials from the MOI Information Center and the National Immigration Agency (NIA), along with contractors.
Those summoned for questioning included two alleged main figures in the case: MOI Information Center Director Shih Ming-te (施明德), who formerly headed the NIA’s Information Division, and former NIA section chief Chen Ying-chieh (陳英傑).
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Of the people brought in for questioning, 17 were listed as suspects and 24 had been questioned as witnesses as of yesterday, prosecutors said.
Shih and Chen were yesterday released after posting bail of NT$1 million (US$33,135) and NT$300,000 respectively.
Nine people from computer system contractors were also released after posting bail.
Other government officials who were listed as suspects were released without bail, including MOI Information Center Deputy Director Yen Wen-chang (嚴文常) and NIA section chief Chang Yi-chang (張益彰).
Shih, when heading the NIA’s Information Division between 2006 and 2009, was in charge of more than a dozen government tenders for upgrading computers and installing digital information processing systems.
Prosecutors said they put Shih and other officials under surveillance after receiving tip-offs concerning corruption, bribery, bid rigging and questionable financial transactions at MOI agencies.
Shih allegedly colluded with other MOI officials in receiving money and other financial benefits from contractors in exchange for leaking information about government tenders.
Shih also allegedly engaged in bid rigging by catering the terms and specifications of government procurement projects to the contractors.
The most prominent case involved a bid in 2009 to install new computer systems that process the personal identification data of passengers entering and leaving the nation at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, with Shih handling the procurement as MOI Information Center director.
Shih allegedly took bribes in exchange for awarding the bid to a company that installed digital electronics and communications equipment supplied by Chinese subcontractors, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
“If this is the case, then our nation’s border controls were opened to access by foreign companies. This is a very serious breach of national security,” he said.
“The personal data of entry and exit passengers contained classified information, such as top government officials, and regular citizens, as well as criminals who were under surveillance,” Chen Chi-mai added.
DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) demanded that the National Security Bureau launch a probe into the allegations.
“This is not any regular case of corruption by government officials to reap financial benefit. If the contractors have Chinese companies or criminal syndicates behind them, then it means our border controls and the personal information of our citizens have been thoroughly penetrated,” Lai said.
It is a grave case that has severely undermined our national security, Lai added.
A media report said that Shih in 2014 purchased a residence in Kaohsiung for about NT$18 million, which he rented out to a contractor who underwrote in full on the mortgage payment to circumvent controls on government officials’ ownership of real estate.
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
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS