Prosecutors yesterday indicted Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科), other officials and contractors on charges of profiting from bribes and misuse of public authority in connection with a real-estate project.
Yang, a second-term Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) county commissioner, and Chiang Liang-yuan (江良淵), Yang’s senior secretary and a former head of the county government’s Public Works Department, were two of the officials indicted, along with Fong Yi Construction Co (豐邑機構) chairman Liu Shu-chu (劉樹居), general manager Chiu Tsung-tse (邱崇?) and two engineers who were project site supervisors.
Prosecutors initiated a probe of the Wonder World 520 project in Jhubei City (竹北) after allegations that mismanagement and negligence had led to eight incidents of partial collapses of walls as foundations were being dug and subsidence from March 2022 to the middle of last year.
Photo: CNA
The incidents led to evacuations of nearby residents.
Investigators said that Fong Yi Construction executives in 2022 donated to Yang’s re-election campaign, alleging that there were “improper links between government officials and business for illegal profit.”
Yang and Chiang allegedly put pressure on subordinates to allow Fong Yi Construction to restart work even after a collapse damaged the site and surrounding buildings, Hsinchu prosecutor Wang Yuan-chih (王遠志) said.
The indictment said that NT$250 million (US$7.66 million) in illegal profit had been made, while Chiang had NT$12.4 million in cash, and Yang had NT$698,500 in gold coins and jewelry, Wang said, adding that they were allegedly bribes from Yong Yi Construction.
“As county commissioner, Yang has a duty to uphold the public interest, and protect the lives and properties of residents, but despite numerous collapse incidents, he only listened to the developer and pressured other officials to allow the project to restart,” the indictment said.
“He enabled all sides to reap financial benefits, including offers by Fong Yi Construction for the free use of office space, meals and other expenses during the 2022 campaign,” it said.
Separately, Taipei prosecutors indicted relatives of KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) in a money laundering case.
Hsu’s sister-in-law, Liu Hsiang-chieh (劉向婕), and Liu Hsiang-chieh’s husband, Tu Ping-cheng (杜秉澄), a friend of the couple named Lin Yu-lun (林于倫) and Liu Hsiang-chieh’s personal assistant, Wu Yi-san (吳沂珊), were indicted over their alleged involvement in an operation that made NT$27 million in illegal profit from cash transfers between criminal groups, prosecutors said.
Evidence indicates that Tu headed the operation, which involved converting New Taiwan dollars into cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.
Hsu lent NT$1 million to her relatives, an exchange that was allegedly connected to Tu’s operation, prosecutors added.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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