Taipei prosecutors questioned two military officers and Remotek Corp executives in an investigation of alleged bid rigging and illegal profiteering involving the Ministry of National Defense’s procurement of biological reconnaissance vehicles.
Taipei prosecutors carried out searches at 12 locations on Thursday and detained several people for questioning. As of yesterday evening, a Taipei court had approved a request to detain retired colonel Wu Ming-lang (吳明郎), while army major Chiu Ya-tzu (邱雅姿) was released on bail of NT$400,000 (US$14,336).
The two are to face charges on breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例), prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, Remotek chairman Chen Ming-hung (陳銘宏) and manager Chiang Li-yu (江立裕) were released on bail of NT$300,000 each, and head of research Shen Hsun-tsan (沈勳燦) on NT$150,000 bail. Three other Remotek staff involved in the procurement project were released on bail of NT$200,000 to NT$300,000.
The case stemmed from the MND’s procurement in 2015 of 13 biological reconnaissance vehicles for a reported NT$940 million, which the New Taipei City-based Remotek won with a NT$750 million bid.
Documents indicate that Remotek had the lowest bid and was awarded the contract over two competitors — electronics and home-appliance giant Tatung Co, with its submission at NT$880 million, and Champion Auto Co, a construction machinery and specialized vehicle manufacturer, with its bid at NT$940 million.
Wu, at the time on active service, and Chu were the two military officers based at the Army Command Headquarters in charge of the procurement, and allegations later surfaced that the duo colluded with Remotek to rig the bid, forge documents and illegally profit from the contract.
Prosecutors said that questions were raised about Remotek’s bid at NT$750 million for 13 vehicles, as some experts alleged that it was too low considering the required new technology and advanced instruments required by the tender specification, as the vehicles are used to counter biological warfare and for training drills.
It was alleged the Tac-Bio particle senor that Remotek proposed using cannot detect bacteria and viruses smaller than PM5 (5 micrometer). However, the company in the bid document listed it as capable of detecting biological and particulate matter at between PM2.5 and PM10 with 90 percent accuracy.
Prosecutors allege that Wu and Chiu colluded in bid rigging, not properly verifying submitted bids and modifying specifications to benefit Remotek’s bid, while Remotek executives are accused of allegedly falsifying data on their submission and forging documents to secure the contract.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is suspending retaliation measures against South Korea that were set to take effect tomorrow, after Seoul said it is updating its e-arrival system, MOFA said today. The measures were to be a new round of retaliation after Taiwan on March 1 changed South Korea's designation on government-issued alien resident certificates held by South Korean nationals to "South Korea” from the "Republic of Korea," the country’s official name. The move came after months of protests to Seoul over its listing of Taiwan as "China (Taiwan)" in dropdown menus on its new online immigration entry system. MOFA last week
RSS