The Agency Against Corruption asked state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) to provide more than NT$1 million (US$33,000) in funding for a running event, despite Taipower being under investigation over irregular procurements, a legislator alleged yesterday.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) told reporters that the agency launched a probe in May into procurements relating to the construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市). Several Taipower officials were released on bail following a search of company offices.
Huang said the agency had planned to celebrate its first anniversary by hosting a running event on Saturday, but last week it postponed the event in light of a corruption scandal involving former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世).
Huang said that although the event was postponed, she found the agency was still running event ads showing Taipower and Taiwan Tobacco & Liquor Co (台灣菸酒公司) were sponsors of the event.
According to expenditure documents for the event, the agency was expecting to spend NT$2.38 million, with the agency and the Ministry of Economic Affairs each paying half of the money, or about NT$1.19 million, Huang said.
Huang said the ministry had approved a plan by Taipower to provide the NT$1.19 million.
Huang asked how the target of an investigation could become a sponsor for the agency, adding that the agency could have decided to go easy in its probe of Taipower because of the relationship.
Agency Against Corruption Deputy Head Yang Shih-chin (楊石金) said yesterday that the agency had discussed hosting the running event with the ministry in January and agreed that each would cover half of the expenditure.
Yang said the agency only launched its probe against Taipower in May, adding that the agency was currently looking into two cases involving Taipower and that it would definitely not go easy on the company if wrongdoing were uncovered.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS