Five New Taipei City Crematorium employees were yesterday released on bail of NT$50,000 (US$1,628) each after being questioned about allegations of accepting bribes from private funeral service operators.
The five were summoned as persons of interest after judicial investigators conducted a search over the corruption allegations. Seven private funeral service proprietors were also questioned and released.
On Wednesday, led by New Taipei City Prosecutor Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰), Ministry of Justice Agency Against Corruption agents and police raided 18 locations and detained the 12 for questioning.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
The New Taipei City Crematorium is a unit of the government-run New Taipei City Funeral Parlor in Banciao District (板橋).
Staff at the crematorium and at public funeral parlors allegedly received regular monthly bribes from private funeral service operators, with the cumulative amount reaching about NT$30 million since the practice started in 2020, Lee said.
Some staff allegedly received about NT$50,000 to NT$60,000 each month, while lower-ranked employees received about NT$3,000 per month, Lee said.
Long lines, procedural delays and local customs and traditions requiring the holding of rituals on certain days after the deceased’s passing have given rise to the illegal practice of relatives or friends of the deceased paying bribes to expedite the process or get ahead of the line for cremation and funeral services, industry insiders said.
The five employees may be charged with contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), Lee said.
The latest operation is a continuation of a corruption probe that started in January, in which 20 civil servants, headed by a section head surnamed Hsi (席), at New Taipei City’s crematorium and funeral parlor, and 12 private proprietors were detained for questioning.
Hsi was released on bail of NT$200,000, while most of the other staff posted bail of NT$100,000 each, Lee said.
One person who refused to admit to accepting bribes when questioned was given a higher bail of NT$500,000, Lee added.
Prosecutors said that a similar corruption investigation was carried out in Taipei in March last year, and officials at the Taipei Mortuary Services Office were in December that year convicted of bribery, forgery and collusion.
The Taipei District Court handed out a 14-month sentence to Taipei’s former Burial and Cemetery Management Section head Ou Yang Keng-sheng (歐陽更生) and a 16-month jail term for technician Sun Pei-jen (孫佩仁).
Authorities initiated the judicial investigation after receiving public complaints about being asked to give “red envelopes” to bribe officials at the Taipei Mortuary Services Office (台北市殯葬管理處) to facilitate services at either of the two city-operated funeral parlors.
A vessel owned by Taiwan’s cargo container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp caught fire after an explosion occurred in a container on board while the ship was at the busy Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China on Friday. Yang Ming Marine confirmed the incident and said a preliminary investigation found that the explosion occurred in a container on its vessel, the YM Mobility, which reportedly arrived in Ningbo early on Friday morning after its last call in Shanghai. “Immediate fire control measures were taken, and the situation is now under control,” Yang Ming Marine said in a statement. “All crew
The number of foreign students attending Taiwanese universities last year dropped 9.46 percent from 2019, mainly due to a marked decline in the number of Chinese students, the National Audit Office said in a report. Last year, there were 116,038 foreign students — 67,299 degree students and 48,739 non-degree students — a decrease of 12,119, or 9.46 percent, from 128,157 in 2019, the report said. China in 2020 stopped allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, saying that COVID-19 pandemic controls and “the cross-strait situation” were the reasons for the change. Chinese who had already come to Taiwan were allowed finish their
‘UNITING TAIWAN’: While the boxer’s home town is offering free train and sports center access, stores around the nation are offering discounts to celebrate her victory New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday declared Aug. 12 “Lin Yu-ting Day” after the Taiwanese boxer won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg category at the Paris Olympics. Lin’s hometown is in the city’s Yingge District (鶯歌). The final between Lin and Poland’s Julia Szeremeta was broadcast live at the city hall early yesterday morning, where Hou, Lin’s mother and more than 200 people rooted for her. Thunderous roars and applause erupted at the city hall when the referee lifted Lin’s hand to show she had won. To celebrate Lin’s hard-won victory, Aug. 12 would be designated Lin
HUGE UPGRADE: Once Terminal 3 is completed, the airport’s passenger service capacity would expand to 82 million travelers per year from 37 million, an official said The north concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 is scheduled to begin operations in the middle of next year, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said yesterday. The Terminal 3 project was launched as the number of air travelers accessing the nation’s largest international airport each year has already exceeded the combined capacity of terminals 1 and 2. The two existing terminals were designed to be accessed by 37 million air travelers per year. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 48.36 million accessed the airport in 2019. The airport operator yesterday organized a field trip for reporters to see Terminal 3 construction