Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) and her predecessor, Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), were released on bail early yesterday after being questioned overnight by prosecutors on corruption allegations linked to a herbal medicine biotech park project.
Chang was released on NT$3 million (US$100,000) bail and Chen on NT$1 million bail.
The two, both members of the Democratic Progressive Party, are suspected of having taken bribes from Chun Lung Development Co (春龍開發公司) during the bidding process for the Dapumei (大埔美) Intelligent Industrial Park at the Dapumei Herbs Park, which was a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, between 2004 and 2006 in exchange for helping the developer win the tender.
Chen was the county chief who promoted the project, while Chang was a lawmaker when the bidding on the park was initiated.
Defending her innocence upon her release, Chang criticized the investigation conducted by the prosecutors as “very unfair” and described the search of Chiayi County Government offices a day earlier as “unprecedented” and “disorganized.”
The prosecutors mobilized more than 400 agents for the search of the county government on Tuesday.
She said the integrity of her administrative team would withstand scrutiny, as evidenced by the fact that all 25 county government employees summoned by prosecutors were eventually freed.
Meanwhile, Chen said he “has never taken a single penny” in the case and said the incident was a “mistake.”
A preliminary investigation found that the government and the private sector were each to provide NT$1.5 billion in funding for the project under the BOT model.
The Chiayi County Government, however, revoked its contract with the developer in July 2009 after it failed to complete the construction work on time.
In February last year, the county government decided to change the herbal medicine biotech park project into a precision-machinery industry park.
Investigators and prosecutors raided 51 locations and summoned more than 40 people for questioning on Tuesday. The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday applied for the detention of 13 people, including Chang’s sister, Chang Ying-chi (張瑛姬), county government general affairs section official Chiu Feng-ming (邱豐銘), as well as several professors and business owners, for suspected involvement in the Chiayi County bid.
In response to news that applications had gone out for the detention of her sister, Helen Chang said that no matter who was detained and whatever their background, she believed in their innocence.
Helen Chang said the prosecutors’ office was looking into an old case, adding that the case stemmed from the time when she was still a legislator, not a county commissioner.
“We hope there is still justice in the judicial system and hope that the prosecutors will be able to clear things up,” Helen Chang said, adding that she was not at liberty to comment further as the investigations were still ongoing. “The people are watching.”
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS