Former Tainan City Council speaker Kuo Hsin-liang (郭信良) and an alleged coconspirator were each granted bail of NT$2 million (US$60,098) today, amid an investigation into alleged corruption involving a solar farm in the city’s Jiangjun District (將軍) and contraventions of the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).
Kuo allegedly accepted bribes totaling NT$9 million from the wife of SanTi Group (三地集團) founder Chung Chia-tsun (鍾嘉村), the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office in Kaohsiung said.
Kuo and Chung were summoned for questioning last night and were released this morning.
Photo: Taipei Times
Prosecutors believe that Chung’s wife transferred NT$15 million to an account registered to intermediary Chu Keng-nan (朱更楠), the operator of a separate company in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (岡山), after which Chu transferred NT$9 million to Kuo, who is currently a Tainan city councilor.
Kuo has claimed that the NT$9 million was a loan and denied any illegal activity, but prosecutors suspect that the payment was a bribe to help Chung obtain a license to operate a solar farm.
In mid-April, prosecutors discovered suspicious financial activity surrounding the solar farm and obtained a search warrant to raid 15 locations, including the construction company and Kuo’s office.
Evidence was seized and Kuo, Chung and Chu were brought into custody, although Kuo was later released on bail of NT$300,000 and the other two on NT$200,000 bail respectively.
Investigators later received reports of large amounts of illegal waste dumped at the solar farm and other locations, summoning Chu and also Kuo’s assistant, Lee Yi-chang (李宜璋), for questioning in mid-June.
Chu was then detained incommunicado, while Lee was released on bail.
After cross-checking testimonies and tracing money flows, prosecutors said that Kuo was also suspected in the illegal dumping scandal at the Jiangjun solar farm and other sites.
Prosecutors said that the investigation remains ongoing.
In November last year, Kuo was sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption for receiving more than NT$13 million through extortion and bribes from an engineering consultancy relating to a land zoning project in Tainan’s Tiansi Borough (佃西).
Additional reporting by CNA
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