Ten public elementary school and junior-high school principals were indicted yesterday by prosecutors in Banciao District (板橋), New Taipei City (新北市), on suspicion of taking bribes from school lunch suppliers.
Banciao prosecutors last month indicted eight public elementary school principals in New Taipei City and have so far brought 18 principals before the courts.
Banciao prosecutors expanded the investigation yesterday by questioning another five principals in the city.
Four public elementary school principals — Hsiao Mao-sheng (蕭茂生), Yang Wen-ta (楊文達), Tsai Shue-Jiao (蔡雪嬌) and Chen Hao-jan (陳浩然) — as well as Chang Shih-ming (張世明), a senior high school principal, were summoned for questioning by prosecutors.
In the indictment issued yesterday, prosecutors said that as six principals — Hou Chuan-li (侯全利), Chao jung-ching (趙榮景), Pan Chiao-ning (潘教寧), Tseng Mao-shan (曾茂山), Fu Yu-ning (傅育寧) and Wu Yung-yu (吳永裕) — denied any wrongdoing during the investigation, prosecutors asked the Banciao District Court to sentence them to between 15 and 20 years in jail.
Four principals — Liu Chuang-jen (劉創任), Lo Jung-sen (羅榮森), Chiu Chung-shian (邱重賢) and Shen Ping-huang (沈炳煌) — were indicted yesterday.
Last month, eight principals — Chang Chung-jen (張崇仁), Yeh Chen-yi (葉振翼), Ko Fen (柯份), Wu Yu-mei (吳玉美), Lee Ming-sheng (李明生), Lee Ying-tsung (李應宗), Hsu Li-chen (許利楨) and Tsai Pao-chun (蔡寶俊) — were brought to the Banciao District Court.
Prosecutors said the lunch suppliers bribed a number of principals so they would receive a better evaluation, which helped their bids to supply lunches.
Schools typically hold bids for lunch suppliers once a semester. To gain an edge, prosecutors said some suppliers increased the price of their lunches by between NT$2 and NT$5 a serving, which went to bribes for the principals.
The bribes totaled between NT$200,000 and NT$300,000 a semester for some principals.
Some of the principals are also suspected of leaking the names of committee members in charge of reviewing the New Taipei City elementary school lunch program to suppliers so they could bribe the committee members, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they have summoned a total of 34 principals for questioning so far and that another three principals had been reported to prosecutors.
‘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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS