The Taipei District Court today ordered former Green Energy Industry Promotion Center deputy executive director Cheng Yi-lin (鄭亦麟) detained incommunicado on suspicion of taking bribes.
Cheng is accused of profiting through his position at the center, a state-run center under the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Photo copied by Liu Yung-yun, Taipei Times
He received illicit gains through relatives' and friends' accounts under the guise of consulting fees from two Taiwanese companies: Tungwei Construction and HDRE, prosecutors said.
The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office alleged that Cheng also used his position to "pressure" state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).
Cheng's actions constituted contraventions of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), having property of unproven legal origin and the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), prosecutors said.
Tungwei Construction founder Chen Chien-sheng (陳健盛) and his son Chen Kuan-tao (陳冠滔) were also ordered detained incommunicado in the same case.
On Monday, the office directed the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau Tainan City Field Division to search 22 locations, including homes, offices and the premises of the two implicated companies.
Nine defendants and five witnesses were questioned as part of the investigation, and documents from the economic ministry and Taipower were also taken.
After questioning, prosecutors said HDRE's general manager, identified by his surname Chou (周), was released on NT$1 million (US$32,717) bail and restricted from leaving the country.
An accountant, also surnamed Cheng (鄭), was freed on NT$800,000 bail, while Cheng Yi-lin's parents were each released on NT$100,000 bail.
Another person surnamed Hsu (徐) and a retired vice president of Taipower surnamed Hsiao (蕭) were released without bail.
Responding to the allegation that Cheng Yi-lin "pressured" Taipower, Taipower chairman Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) told reporters he did not understand the full nature of the case against him.
"'Pressure' is just a descriptive word," Tseng said, adding that it would be better to let the judicial authorities clarify what this means.
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