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.”
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS