Prosecutors yesterday listed five current and former lawmakers, and four others, as suspects in a corruption probe, and applied to place them in judicial detention.
The move followed raids on the lawmakers’ offices at the Legislative Yuan and other locations on Friday in connection with long-running disputes and litigation over Far Eastern Group’s (遠東集團) takeover of Pacific Sogo Department Store (太平洋崇光百貨), involving a number of politicians, their aides and businesspeople.
After questioning, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office sought charges of corruption and taking bribes totaling NT$40 million (US$1.36 million) against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chen Chao-ming (陳超明) and Sufin Siluko, along with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and independent Legislator Chao Cheng-yu (趙正宇).
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Prosecutors have accused Su of taking the highest bribe of about NT$20 million, while NT$9.2 million was found in Chao’s office, believed to be bribe money.
New Power Party (NPP) Chairman Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a former legislator, also faces charges under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Former DPP legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山), who also faces pending corruption charges, was released in the morning after posting NT$500,000 bail.
Prosecutors applied with the bail court to detain the four current lawmakers and Hsu, as well as former Pacific Distribution Investment Co (太平洋流通) chairman Lee Heng-lung (李恆隆) and his three aides, citing the possibility that they could collude on their testimony, tamper with evidence or flee abroad.
Lee has since 2002 been embroiled in disputes and litigation against Far Eastern Group chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) over the ownership of Pacific Sogo, with courts ruling in favor of both parties in separate verdicts.
When summoned by prosecutors for questioning on Friday night, Lee denied the bribery charges, while confirming that he had given NT$20 million to Su, saying that it was a loan, which Su had paid back.
The other lawmakers are suspected of receiving smaller bribes, the prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also questioned three men who are suspected of acting as “white gloves” in the case — Knowledge International Consultancy (是知管理顧問公司) general manager and political lobbyist Kuo Ke-ming (郭克銘), Tonlin Department Store (統領百貨) general manager Weng Hua-li (翁華利), and Singaporean businessman George Guek (郭明忠), founder of Singapore-based BreadTalk Group.
Investigators reportedly have evidence and witness testimony that Kuo, Weng and Guek had personal ties with Lee, and joined forces to wrestle back control of Pacific Sogo from Douglas Hsu and his Far Eastern Group.
Lee allegedly sought a business partnership with Guek’s firm to boost capital and became a major shareholder in Lee’s Pacific Distribution Investment.
He also allegedly urged BreadTalk Group to launch an international business lawsuit over accusations that Douglas Hsu’s subsidiary firm in 2002 forged documents to falsify capitalization figures to gain control of Pacific Sogo.
Following questioning, Weng was released on NT$2 million bail and the lawmakers’ aides were released on NT$100,000 bail each, while prosecutors were still questioning Kuo as of press time last night.
In an investigation into Chao allegedly pressuring a Ministry of the Interior department to rezone a plot of land to benefit development inside Yangmingshan National Park, funeral service business owners Chung Ke-hsin (鍾克信) and Chen Ming-han (陳明瀚) were released on bail of NT$1 million and NT$300,000 respectively.
The implicated legislators were members of the legislature’s Finance Committee or allegedly lobbied for Lee’s efforts to regain control of Pacific Sogo, and questioned the legality of Douglas Hsu taking over the company.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS