A township mayor was detained after a massive operation in a probe into alleged graft and bid-rigging by public officials in Kaohsiung.
Namasia Township (那瑪夏) Mayor Payan Islituan was detained, 28 people were questioned and two contractors were released on bail over the weekend after more than 100 investigators on Thursday searched 35 locations.
Payan was detained pending charges over breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), leaking confidential information and other offenses in the Criminal Code, said Hsieh Chao-ching (謝肇晶), head prosecutor at the Ciaotou District (橋頭) Prosecutors’ Office.
Four contractors allegedly paid NT$5 million (US$166,223) to secure bids on public projects, Hsieh said.
On Saturday, a man surnamed Chen (陳) was released after posting bail of NT$200,000, a man surnamed Lin (林) posted bail of NT$100,000, a man surnamend Lee (李) posted bail of NT$50,000 and a woman surnamed Chen (陳) was released without bail, Hsieh said.
The office said it received tip-offs alleging that Payan, 58, was taking advantage of his office by accepting NT$5 million in bribes as he oversaw public projects and supervised officials.
He was accused of colluding with contractors by leaking project specifications and the minimum bids that would be accepted for a project.
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
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