Fifteen people, including two Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) officials, were yesterday indicted by the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office for their alleged involvement in corruption related to the Terminal 2 expansion and related projects at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The prosecutors’ investigation found evidence of suspected bid-rigging related to the airport’s Terminal 2 expansion, as well as projects to improve runways and utilities, the office said.
TIAC engineering head Lin Wen-chen (林文楨), 58, and his deputy, Wu Chun-tsung (吳俊宗), 45, had allegedly demanded 3 percent in kickbacks on project costs from contractors, the office said, adding that problematic projects in which they were involved were estimated to have aggregated funding of up to NT$4 billion (US$131.6 million at the current exchange rate).
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
Lin, Wu and the other suspects were charged with contravening the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Evidence showed that Lin had allegedly received kickbacks totaling NT$2.54 million from various contractors, with Lin and Wu leaking the details of projects to help contractors win the bids, prosecutors said.
The main contractors involved were New Asia Co (新亞建設) and CTCI Smart Engineering Corp (益鼎工程), part of CTCI Corp, while the subcontractors implicated in the case included Dong Chun Construction (東群營造), Shun Ho Chang Engineering (順厚倡工程), Yung Heng Engineering (永衡工程) and Fu Yang Engineering (富暘工程), prosecutors said.
Evidence showed that Lin and Wu, the TIAC officials in charge of the airport expansion and construction projects, had allegedly colluded with executives of New Asia Co and subcontractors, with Lin instructing Wu as an intermediary in dealing with the firms and taking kickbacks in different phases, prosecutors said.
In addition, in a related project for groundwork and foundation construction on Terminal 3, Lin had reportedly received kickbacks in the form of paid vacations from subcontractor Apex Science and Engineering Corp (夆典科技), the prosecutors said.
In exchange for helping it to obtain the contract for the project, Apex allegedly paid Lin’s NT$18,000 airfare for a trip to Cambodia in March 2017, and in August 2017, it paid NT$228,500 for Lin and his family to travel to Okinawa, Japan, the prosecutors’ office said.
“Lin heads up the engineering department at TIAC, but he forgot the importance of the post and his duty. In his pursuit of money, he had over long periods made demands for and received kickbacks from contractors,” the indictment said.
“He leaked vital tender project information to the contractors for financial benefits, and this case severely undermined the public trust regarding ethical dealings by employees of state-run companies,” it added.
Surveillance of the employees began in 2017 after leaking roofs, flooding and bursting toilet pipes plagued the newly renovated Terminal 2, and investigators received tips from TIAC staff about engineering shortcuts and the use of inferior construction materials, prosecutors said.
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