Former Tainan City Council speaker Kuo Hsin-liang (郭信良) was detained and held incommunicado on Friday on suspicion of extortion and receiving bribes of more than NT$10 million (US$319,667) from an engineering consultancy.
The Tainan District Court approved the request by prosecutors to detain the 63-year-old Kuo, who is a city councilor in Tainan, and Kao Chin-chien (高進見), a borough warden, to prevent collusion, the court said.
Kuo was among more than 10 people who were brought in by prosecutors for questioning on Thursday over their roles in a land zoning project.
Photo: Tung Chen-kuo, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that they conducted dawn raids on Kuo’s offices at the city council and constituencies, the city’s Department of Land Administration, and the residencies of other suspects.
Five other suspects were released on bail of between NT$50,000 and NT$300,000, while others were allowed to leave without bail after questioning.
Kuo was a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) when he served as deputy speaker from 2010 to 2018, and acting speaker briefly for two months in 2016, before he left the party in 2018 for a successful run at the speakership as an independent.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
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