Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday accused Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), his successor, and his administration of shirking responsibility on a controversial government contract with Taiwan Intelligent Fiber Optic Network Consortium (Taifo), which is being investigated for alleged bribery.
Prosecutors on March 15 requested the detention of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chen Chung-wen (陳重文) on suspicion of corruption — for allegedly accepting bribes from Taifo, a contracted fiber optic network supplier of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the city used by police.
Chen allegedly accepted kickbacks from Taifo to pressure the Taipei City Police Department from December last year to January to increase this year’s network service budget.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Although the department had cut last year’s budget from NT$550 million (US$17.21 million) to NT$460 million, this year’s budget was increased to NT$520 million after negotiations.
Prosecutors and investigators from the Ministry of Justice Agency Against Corruption on March 14 raided 26 locations, including Chen’s office in the Taipei City Council, his residence, Taifo, Tai Tung Communication Co (台通光電) and another company owned by Lee, and detained nine suspects for questioning, but Chen was released on bail.
After prosecutors filed an appeal against the bail decision, the Taipei District Court on Thursday ordered that Chen be detained and held incommunicado.
The Taipei City Government on Dec. 30, 2011 — when the KMT’s Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was mayor — signed a 25-year contract with Taifo to build a fiber optic network in Taipei.
Ko said that before he stepped down from office in December 2022, he had proposed that the city council reconsider its demand to fully migrate the bandwidth for the city police's network of CCTV cameras from 2Mbps to 3Mbps.
He believed that a 2Mbps bandwidth was good enough for most cameras, but the city council rejected his proposal, he said.
Ko earlier on Friday said that in his last year in office, the network service budget was NT$460 million, but the following year the Chiang administration proposed a NT$550 million budget.
Chiang should explain why, Ko said.
A subcontract for the city police’s network of CCTV cameras was signed in 2017 when Ko was in office, with the monthly service fee set at NT$2,200 per camera starting from 2020, Chiang said on Saturday, adding that he asked why the rate was set at that price.
Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) on Saturday wrote on Facebook that while Ko claimed he had endured Taifo for eight years, the problem occurred because Ko had neglected to address it during his mayorship.
When Ko in 2022 -- his last year in office -- allocated the budget for the project, 23 percent of the cameras used 3Mbps and 77 percent used 2Mbps, Lee wrote.
As Ko’s proposal that the city council reconsider its plan for full migration to 3Mbps bandwidth was rejected, the overall budget increased, Lee added.
Ko on Saturday evening shared a photograph of an official city government document regarding the CCTV camera project that he signed on Dec. 23, 2022, one day before he stepped down from office, with a note saying: “The proviso is the evil deed of the city council colluding with a consortium and defrauding the public. It must be publicized and curbed.”
Only 500 new cameras were added last year and this year, so the budget should have been no more than NT$10 million, Ko said.
Chiang should explain himself and stop shirking responsibility, he said.
Ko said he could not terminate the 25-year contract, but suggested at the time that the incoming administration should deal with the unreasonable agreement.
Additional reporting by CNA
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