Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) and three others were indicted yesterday by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on corruption charges linked to a failed solar energy project.
Prosecutors alleged that Sufin accepted NT$5 million (US$152,681) in bribes from business developers to pressure government agencies to restart a green energy project in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹).
Sufin accepted the bribes in exchange for applying pressure on the Southern Region Water Resources Branch of the Water Resources Agency (WRA) to continue plans to build a floating solar power station on the Mudan Reservoir (牡丹水庫), prosecutors said.
Photo: Wang Chien-hao, Taipei Times
The Ministry of Economic Affairs requested funding for the project in 2017, but due to high investment costs and protests from local indigenous communities, no bidders showed interest and the project was officially halted with approval from the Pingtung County Government in 2018, the prosecutors’ office said.
However, two developers surnamed Tsai (蔡) and Chih (池) in 2019 intended to restart the project, with Chih cooperating with the then-development manager of Maiora Renewable Energy Co, surnamed Hsieh (謝), the office said.
Tsai approached Sufin’s office director, surnamed Hung (洪), to ask the legislator to help apply pressure on the WRA, promising a substantial reward in return, it said.
Sufin in November 2019 told the developers via Hung that the WRA was to restart the project, and solicited a bribe of NT$5 million from Tsai under the guise of a political campaign donation, it added.
Tsai, Chih and Hsieh traveled to Hualien County to pay a cash bribe to Hung as an advance payment for Sufin’s involvement, the office said.
Sufin in January 2020 was re-elected as a KMT legislator and became convener of the legislature’s Economics Committee, prosecutors said.
He convened a meeting the following month with the WRA and the Southern Region Water Resources Branch to lower the threshold for investment tenders, which the two rejected, they said.
The same month, Sufin convened another meeting, requesting that the project’s reinstatement be evaluated and instructing Hung to solicit more bribes from Tsai, after which the developers handed over a further NT$2 million, prosecutors said.
Sufin in March 2020 invited Chung Chao-kung (鍾朝恭), then-vice director of the WRA, to a meeting to pressure him to restart the project, for which Hung solicited Tsai for a further NT$2.5 million bribe, they said.
Under pressure from Sufin, the Southern Region Water Resources Branch wrote to the Mudan Township Office and the Mudan Township Council to ask them to reconsider the project, which the township office rejected, with the representative council asking Sufin to stop applying pressure to restart the project, they added.
Sufin in September 2020 was indicted and later detained without visitation rights in a separate corruption scandal in which he accepted bribes in a case linked to an ownership dispute over the Pacific Sogo Department Store chain.
As the Mudan Township project would no longer go ahead, Tsai requested that Sufin return the total sum of NT$5 million, prosecutors said.
As Sufin could not return the money, the two had a disagreement and Tsai reported him to the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, they said.
An investigation found evidence that Sufin and Hung had contravened the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) by receiving bribes in exchange for performing official duties.
Tsai, Chih and Hsieh were also charged under the act for offering bribes to public officials, but prosecutors have recommended a reduced or waived sentence for Tsai due to his cooperation and early confession.
Sufin was previously sentenced to eight years, six months in prison for his involvement in the Pacific Sogo corruption case.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
RSS