Prosecutors yesterday indicted Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi and his chief secretary, Yen Hsin-chang (顏新章), on charges of tax evasion and perjury relating to a financial dispute over the Promised Land Resort & Lagoon project, in which Fu allegedly made a profit of more than NT$166.7 million (US$5.49 million).
Fu, an independent, is closely aligned with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and was a member of the People First Party from 2000 to 2007.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office said that Fu and Yen used political pressure and threats to force Liang Ching-cheng (梁清政), the project’s original proprietor, to sell a 66.1-hectare plot of land in the county’s in Shoufong Township (壽豐) below its market price to Taipei-based Rong Liang Real Estate (榮亮實業), which in turn sold it to another property developer and made a profit of NT$166.7 million, Hualien County head prosecutor Kuo Yu-fang (郭瑜芳) said.
Photo: CNA
The real-estate company failed to report the actual amount of the transaction, and Fu and Yen made false statements to judicial officers investigating the case, Kuo said.
Prosecutors said that Fu is the real owner of Rong Liang Real Estate, which was founded in 2006, and his wife, KMT Legislator Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), previously served as company chairwoman.
The company’s initial capital came from Hsu’s family, along with financial backing from Fu.
“Fu was found to be the owner of Rong Liang Real Estate and the man who directed its business and made the major decisions. The company’s financial accounting and money transfers were directed by Fu or members of his family, while the paperwork was handled by Fu’s assistants and county government staff,” Kuo said.
“During the investigation, Fu gave false statements in an attempt to hide the fact that he is the company owner. During last year’s court hearing, Fu denied he was the owner of the company. Therefore, along with tax evasion charges, Fu is being indicted on perjury charges,” Kuo said.
As for charges Liang had filed, Hualien prosecutors in September last year dropped the corruption charges against Fu, citing insufficient evidence, but pressed tax evasion charges against Pao Kuang-ting (鮑廣廷), the man registered as the owner of Rong Liang Real Estate.
Liang filed an appeal, with the Hualien branch of the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office ordering Hualien district prosecutors to conduct another investigation, which resulted in yesterday’s indictments.
Fu called the charges “political persecution.”
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it