A former colonel was yesterday impeached by the Control Yuan for extorting a contractor to provide him bathroom accessories and collectible liquor bottles worth about NT$185,912 for his new home while working at the Ministry of National Defense.
In a unanimous vote, Control Yuan members determined that former colonel Chen Chi-lin (陳其麟) was guilty of using his position at the Political Warfare Bureau to extort Ju Ming Construction Co into providing him gifts from 2010 to 2015.
When Ju Ming undertook a construction project at a military academy operated by the bureau in 2010, Chen demanded that the constructor provide him with bathroom accessories for a new house he was about to move into, a Control Yuan report said.
Chen, who at the time was in charge of carrying out a final inspection and approving the project, received gifts valued at NT$127,283 from the contractor, it said.
The report, which is based on an investigation conducted by Control Yuan members Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) and Tsai Chung-yi (蔡崇義), said that the contractor was further extorted by Chen into buying him bathroom fixtures and collectible liquor bottles, worth NT$48,699 and NT$9,930 respectively, to settle disputes related to delays in the project, the report said.
Following the vote, the case is to be referred for deliberation to the Disciplinary Court, which governs the discipline of civil servants, the Control Yuan said in a statement.
In February, the High Court upheld a guilty verdict against Chen, including a sentence of five years and two months in prison and a six-year suspension of civil rights.
The case is subject to an appeal.
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