The head of a nuclear power plant was among three people indicted yesterday on charges of corruption at power facilities, while a businessman surnamed Tsao (曹), who allegedly paid bribes, was granted deferred prosecution, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Tseng Wen-huang (曾文煌), who in January last year took over as head of the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Wanli District (萬里), was in charge of two projects at the facility that authorities scrutinized, with the contracts awaiting approval to be awarded to Tsao, the office said.
The power plant was shut down in 2023 after reaching the end of its 40-year service life, although non-power-generation work at the site continues.
Photo: Taipei Times
On Feb. 1 last year, Tseng met with Tsao and allegedly solicited NT$2 million (US$66,664) to finalize a contract to replace an incinerator control system, which Tsao agreed to, prosecutors said.
When the two met again on June 13, Tsao asked Tseng to lower the demand for NT$2 million to NT$1.6 million, prosecutors said, adding that Tseng agreed to the new amount.
In August last year, Tsao met with Tseng to hand over the money, which Tseng put in a safe above a ceiling in his home in Keelung, prosecutors said.
In June last year, Tsao won a tender to install a supervisory control and data acquisition system, with Tseng seeking NT$200,000 to sign the deal, the prosecutors’ office said, adding that the money for the second project was paid in January upon completion.
Tsao was not the only person to bribe Tseng, the office said.
Tsao asked a businessman surnamed Hao (郝) to bid on a NT$7 million tender for automated sandblasters at the plant, and Hao agreed, understanding that Tseng expected to receive bribes, it said.
Hao visited Tseng at his office at the power plant twice, in March and April, giving him NT$200,000 each time, it said.
Hao is also acquainted with Chu Yun-chung (朱允中), director of the coal-fired Linkou Power Plant in New Taipei City, who was also indicted on corruption charges yesterday, it said.
Chu helped Hao win a tender at the Linkou plant in 2019 and was given NT$500,000 in return, prosecutors said, adding that Chu received another NT$300,000 from Hao for a separate project at the Linkou facility in 2020.
Tsao admitted guilt to the charges he faced and expressed deep remorse, providing a full account of his actions, prosecutors said, adding that he was granted deferred prosecution for two years and ordered to pay NT$1.5 million into the national treasury.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS