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
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
‘OFFSHORE OPERATIONS’: Also in Dallas, Texas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs inaugurated its third Taiwan Trade and Investment Center to foster closer cooperation The 2025 Taiwan Expo USA opened on Thursday in Dallas, Texas, featuring 150 Taiwanese companies showcasing their latest technologies in the fields of drones, smart manufacturing and healthcare. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event’s organizer, said the exhibitors this year include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; AUO; PC brand Asustek Computer; and drone maker Thunder Tiger. In his opening speech, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said he expected Texas to become a world-class center for innovation and manufacturing as US technology companies from Silicon Valley and Taiwanese manufacturers form an industrial cluster
A 20-year-old man yesterday evening was electrocuted and fell to his death after he climbed a seven-story-high electricity tower to photograph the sunset, causing a wildfire on Datong Mountain (大同山) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), the Taoyuan Police Department said today. The man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was accompanied on an evening walk by a 20-year-old woman surnamed Shang (尚) who remained on the ground and witnessed the incident, capturing a final photograph of her friend sitting atop the tower before his death, an initial investigation showed. Shang then sought higher ground to call for help, police said. The New Taipei
RSS