The Control Yuan yesterday impeached four Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) officials for corruption when handling a train renovation project.
Freight department deputy director Lee Ching-tsun (李景村) and vehicle management section officials Tsai Wen-tien (蔡文田), Kao Tsun-te (高村德) and Chuang Ching-wen (莊經文) were impeached, the Control Yuan said.
Control Yuan member Yang Mei-ling (楊美鈴), who led the investigation into the case, charged the four with bid-rigging for a NT$900 million (US$27.8 million) project to renovate 38 trains between 2001 to 2005.
Yang said the officials were involved in a series of irregularities in the bidding process and violated the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) and the Civil Servants Work Act (公務人員服務法).
Ahead of the bidding, one of the companies treated Kao to a trip to China, the Control Yuan said. Kao accepted a NT$400,000 bribe from the business, which won the contract for the project. Tsai was found guilty of disclosing confidential details of the project during the bidding process, Yang said.
In addition to accepting the kickback, Kao violated a regulation requiring government officials to obtain approval from the Mainland Affairs Council before visiting China, Yang said.
The Taipei District Court sentenced Kao to 10 years and six months in prison and Tsai to five years and six months. It also deprived Kao of his civil rights for six years and ordered the bribe confiscated, and deprived Tsai of his civil rights for three years.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS