Former Tainan City Council speaker Kuo Hsin-liang (郭信良) and an alleged coconspirator yesterday were each released on NT$2 million (US$65,989) bail, amid an investigation into alleged corruption involving a solar farm in the city’s Jiangjun District (將軍) and alleged contraventions of the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).
Kuo allegedly accepted NT$9 million in bribes from the wife of San-Ti Group (三地集團) founder Chung Chia-tsun (鍾嘉村), the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Kuo and Chung were summoned for questioning on Tuesday night and were released yesterday morning.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said 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 the city’s Gangshan District (岡山), after which Chu transferred NT$9 million to Kuo, who was then a Tainan city councilor.
Kuo has said that the NT$9 million was a loan and denied any illegal activity, but prosecutors said the payment was a bribe to help Chung obtain a license to operate a solar farm.
Prosecutors said that in April they discovered suspicious financial activity involving the solar farm and obtained a search warrant to raid 15 locations, including the construction company and Kuo’s office.
After seizing evidence, Kuo, Chung and Chu were arrested, although Kuo was later released on bail of NT$300,000 and the other two on NT$200,000 bail each.
Investigators said they later received reports of large amounts of waste dumped illegally at the solar farm and other locations, and summoned Chu and Kuo’s assistant, Lee Yi-chang (李宜璋), for questioning in June.
Chu was then detained incommunicado, while Lee was released on bail.
After reviewing testimony and tracing money flows, prosecutors said that they suspected Kuo was involved in the illegal dumping.
The investigation remains ongoing, prosecutors said.
In November last year, Kuo was sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption for allegedly receiving more than NT$13 million through extortion and bribes from an engineering consultancy related to a land zoning project in Tainan’s Diansi Village (佃西).
Additional reporting by CNA
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