Four people were released on bail yesterday amid a probe into alleged corruption over a NT$110 million (US$3.8 million) contract for work at a Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) station in Hsinchu County.
Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office officials said that 15 locations in Taipei, Hsinchu and Taoyuan were searched on Thursday and 15 people have been questioned in connection with the case.
The investigation was launched into the tender process for a contract to the reconstruction of the station in Sinfong Township (新豐), which was awarded to Kaohsiung-based Hua Sheng Engineering Construction Co.
Photo: Chen Wei-tsu, Taipei Times
Hua Sheng owner Su Cheng-ta (蘇成達), TRA Department of Electrical Engineering head Chou Tsu-te (周祖德), TRA Taipei maintenance section chief Lin Chao-cheng (林昭正) and TRA project inspector Lu Hsing-hung (盧星宏) face charges of forgery and other breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), prosecutors said.
The four men were released after posting bail of NT$300,000 each.
The three TRA officials are accused of colluding with Su to falsify budget documents after the project was awarded to Taoyuan-based Kuo Kung Construction Co for NT$110 million.
Work began in April 2008 to reconstruct parts of the railway station and add new facilities, prosecutors said.
Chou and Lin colluded to hand the project over to Hua Sheng, citing delays and other issues that resulted in the agreement with Kuo Kung being terminated in October 2008, prosecutors said.
The two men reopened the public tender, which was won by Hua Sheng at a reduced bid of NT$100 million, prosecutors said.
Chou and Lin allegedly colluded with Lu to produce falsified records, which led to Hua Sheng securing the contract, prosecutors said, adding that the case involves about NT$5 million in illegal profit.
Kuo Kung was riled by the termination of its work agreement and filed a lawsuit against the TRA to secure a refund and compensation on top.
The High Court ruled in the company’s favor and ordered the TRA to pay it NT$4.94 million.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard