CRIME
Eleven charged with fraud
Eleven people have been indicted on suspicion of breach of trust, fraud and other charges, in weapons system procurement bids hosted by the military’s top research unit, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Three staff members at the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, surnamed Hsieh (謝), Peng (彭) and Pai (白), allegedly colluded with suppliers and downgraded three procurement bids from military grade to industrial or commercial grade to lower the suppliers’ costs at the expense of military security, the office said in a statement. In addition, Hsieh took pictures of some of the classified documents and disclosed them to one of the suppliers before some of the tenders were opened, resulting in unfair competition, it said. They also believe one bid-winning supplier engaged in fraud. Although the company was fully aware that the institute’s contracts forbid China-made products, it still imported goods from China and processed them before handing them over to the institute, earning more than NT$55.46 million (US$1.73 million), it said. Prosecutors raided the institute, suppliers and staff members’ residences from September last year to February, adding that 11 suspects were indicted on Aug. 28 on charges of breach of trust, fraud and leaking information of a confidential nature.
CRIME
School fined for abuse
The High Court on Tuesday ordered a Taipei elementary school to pay NT$1.23 million in compensation to a student and her family in a case where a physical education teacher sexually violated a sixth grader in 2016 and 2017. In the first trial at the Taipei District Court, the school was found liable to pay the victim NT$1 million after the tchoukball coach it employed sexually assaulted the girl multiple times. With the school, the name of which was not revealed, and the family filing appeals over the verdict, the case went to the High Court. According to the verdict released on Tuesday, the family appealed the initial ruling citing psychological trauma inflicted on the student and her parents. The court found the school guilty of failing in its duty of care and ordered it to pay the family NT$1.23 million. For the criminal offense of sexual assaulting a minor, the tchoukball coach was fired and, having been indicted and found guilty, was also sentenced to three years and eight months in jail.
CRIME
Taipei school investigated
Chang Kuang-cheng (張光正), chairman of an elite private elementary school in Taipei, was released on Thursday on bail of NT$1.5 million, one day after he was detained by prosecutors for questioning on suspicion of embezzlement at the school. While Chang has been granted bail, he has been prohibited from leaving the country during the investigation into the alleged misappropriation of about NT$40 million over the past 10 years in the elementary section of Taipei Private Tsai Hsing School, a K-12 institution. Eight staff members at the school, including principal Yang Heng (楊珩), were also questioned on Wednesday by prosecutors, after officials of the Investigation Bureau searched 12 locations. The nine suspects have been accused of siphoning from student fees since 2013 and depositing the money into an account managed by Chang. In addition to the investigation being carried out by law enforcement officers, the Taipei Department of Education has set up a task force to probe the allegations.
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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition