Nine police officers have been listed as suspects in a bribery investigation involving car rental firms and motor vehicle offices in northern Taiwan, including one officer who allegedly received more than NT$1 million (US$33,568) in bribes from more than 100 people.
The officers allegedly received bribes from drivers who had been caught speeding and were at risk of having their licenses suspended for six months, for helping them exploit a loophole in Article 12 of the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例).
The article states that drivers “operating a vehicle without license plates … shall be fined from NT$3,600 to NT$10,800.”
Instead of issuing a speeding ticket, the officers allegedly fined the drivers the minimum amount stated in the article and colluded with staff at local motor vehicle offices to expedite the issuance of new licenses, asking drivers for a bribe of NT$10,000 apiece.
Most bribes allegedly came from car rental firms and drivers of luxury vehicles.
New Taipei City prosecutors on Thursday coordinated searches in 29 locations, after investigating dozens of police officers in New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Hsinchu County over two years.
Prosecutors said they had been tipped off by other officers and staff at motor vehicle offices.
They questioned 79 people, 41 of whom were listed as witnesses or persons of interest, and 38 — including the officers, car rental firm staff and motor vehicle office employees — were listed as suspects, prosecutors said.
The officers under investigation are from New Taipei City’s Banciao (板橋) and Shulin (樹林) districts, Taoyuan’s Pingjhen (平鎮) and Bade (八德) districts, and Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City (竹北), they said.
Separately, Hualien County prosecutors have searched the office and residence of a deputy squad captain in Fonglin District (鳳林), who is suspected of colluding with an illegal logging operation.
Prosecutors said the officer, who heads the precinct’s criminal investigation section, allegedly helped members of the ring fell trees and collect driftwood in the Matai-an River (馬太鞍溪), including in December last year, by transporting timber in a police vehicle.
Prosecutors are questioning witnesses, and the officer and ring members are to face charges for breaching the Forestry Act (森林法), they said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS