The Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) in 2014 illegally purchased more than 30 Puyuma Express and Taroko Express trains from Japan for more than NT$1.8 billion (US$58 million), New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said yesterday, adding that former premier Lin Chuan (林全) had been informed of the matter in 2016.
The railways agency purchased the 32 brand new trains, even though its application for the procurement, citing the need for train parts, was rejected by the Executive Yuan’s Public Construction Commission, Huang said at the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee.
“This has become the biggest joke in government procurement in Taiwan. If an old train is broken, they can just tear off the needed parts from the new one. Is that how it is supposed to work?” he said, adding that the purchase was “corrupt” and “treated all taxpayers as fools.”
The TRA made the purchases on Dec. 27, 2014, signing contracts with two Japanese companies for 16 Taroko trains and 16 Puyuma trains for NT$925 million and NT$ 896 million respectively, he said.
Prior to the purchase, the company had applied for approval from the commission, citing Article 22, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 4 of the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法), which allows a private tendering process for government procurement when follow-up maintenance, parts or additional extensions of previously purchased goods are required, he said.
The commission withheld approval, but the TRA proceeded with the procurement anyway, he said.
Instead of holding a public tendering process, as required by the act, the TRA reached a deal with the two Japanese companies through private procurement, he said.
“The private process ensured that everyone involved could share the benefits,” he said.
Lin and former minister of Transportation and Communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) both promised to investigate the matter in 2016 when they were informed of it, but no progress has been made since then, he said.
“Did they thoroughly investigate the matter? Or did someone hinder the investigation to prevent the ugly scandal from being exposed? Huang asked, adding: “How corrupt.”
The commission’s Central Procurement Supervision Unit must probe the alleged graft and report all suspects to the Control Yuan, he added.
Public Construction Commission Minister Wu Tse-Cheng (吳澤成) said that he was unaware of the matter, but agreed to launch an investigation and report to Huang within a month.
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