Public prosecutors have launched an investigation into claims that New Taipei City firefighters have been taking bribes from funeral service proprietors.
Two firefighters were denied bail and put in judicial detention on Friday, while six others were questioned and later released on bail ranging from NT$50,000 to NT$300,000 (US$1,597 to US$9,583), the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said
In Taiwan, ambulance services transporting people to hospital experiencing cardiac arrest, life-threatening situations or serious injuries are handled by local fire department stations, as firefighters are front-line workers in medical emergencies alongside their responsibilities in fighting fires.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
Tip-offs claimed that some firefighters and police officers obtained the personal information — including the names, telephone numbers and home addresses — of families whose family members had just experienced a medical emergency, passing on this personal information to proprietors in the funeral service industry, such as traditional Taoist or Buddhist organizations, and designated practitioners that conduct ritualized ceremonies.
New Taipei City prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption conducted a preliminary investigation after receiving the tipoffs last year, before carrying out raids in three phases starting last month.
The raids took place at fire stations in New Taipei City Fire Department’s Second Corps Office in Sinjhuang (新莊), Shulin (樹林) and Taishan (泰山) districts, questioning firefighter officers on suspicion of taking bribes — contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), as firefighters are government-sector employees and could be charged with corruption.
Firefighters Chen Cheng-hui (陳晟輝) and Chang Yu-che (張育哲) were detained on restricted communication after questioning on Friday.
Agency Against Corruption officials said that the firefighters leaked the private information of affected families to funeral service proprietors in return for NT$5,000 to NT$15,000 per case. Some were suspected of having received more than NT$200,000 over the years.
The investigation found that some firefighters had obtained the name and contact information of patients or those who passed away, and allegedly passed the information via Line or other messaging platforms to funeral proprietors, for the funeral service firms to immediately dispatch their staff to the scene or home address to promote their funeral services.
Prosecutors alleged that the firefighters would immediately receive NT$5,000 as a commission if a funeral home had signed an agreement with the family, and others involved in the process would also receive NT$2,000.
Ministry of the Interior data from 2017 showed that regular funeral services cost about NT$250,000 to NT$400,000. Low-income families who cannot afford it can apply for a state subsidy of NT$23,000 for a funeral at their local government’s social affairs department on presentation of an official death certificate.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
Taiwanese celebrities Hank Chen (陳漢典) and Lulu Huang (黃路梓茵) announced yesterday that they are planning to marry. Huang announced and posted photos of their engagement to her social media pages yesterday morning, joking that the pair were not just doing marketing for a new show, but “really getting married.” “We’ve decided to spend all of our future happy and hilarious moments together,” she wrote. The announcement, which was later confirmed by the talent agency they share, appeared to come as a surprise even to those around them, with veteran TV host Jacky Wu (吳宗憲) saying he was “totally taken aback” by the news. Huang,
The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) put Taiwan in danger, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said yesterday, hours after the de facto US embassy said that Beijing had misinterpreted World War II-era documents to isolate Taiwan. The AIT’s comments harmed the Republic of China’s (ROC) national interests and contradicted a part of the “six assurances” stipulating that the US would not change its official position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, Hsiao said. The “six assurances,” which were given by then-US president Ronald Reagan to Taiwan in 1982, say that Washington would not set a date for ending arm sales to Taiwan, consult
RSS