The Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office has detained seven people for their alleged involvement in green energy-related corruption cases.
The suspects were local officials from township offices and township representative offices in Changhua County’s Chutang Township (竹塘) and Yunlin County’s Erlun Township (二崙), as well as facilitators, the prosecutors said, adding that they were being detained to prevent them from contacting co-conspirators.
The action was taken on Tuesday by the office together with the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau and Agency Against Corruption.
Photo: Chen Kuan-bei, Taipei Times
Forty-eight locations were raided and NT$7.27 million (US$227,358) in cash was seized, the office said on Wednesday.
After questioning 41 people, prosecutors detained seven, while the others were released on bail ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$1.2 million.
The case was the third in a series of crackdowns on green energy-related corruption launched by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, the office said.
The office said that NT$12.29 million has been seized from the crackdowns, and three township heads, three township representatives, four facilitators and one civil servant have been indicted in the cases.
The first investigation identified a former township head who is believed to have solicited bribes from a green energy provider and a former legislative office worker accused of accepting bribes from a solar energy provider.
Meanwhile, the second investigation found that Yunlin County Council Speaker Huang Kai (黃凱) allegedly accepted bribes and helped a solar energy provider, and a Chiayi County township construction department head was accused of asking for bribes from a green energy provider, the office added.
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