A Control Yuan probe report released yesterday found negligence and dereliction of duty by military officers in charge of weapons and parts procurement projects.
Control Yuan members said they uncovered failures in oversight, breaches of acceptance testing, breaches of procurement contracts and possible unlawful conduct in failing to identify fake documents submitted by contractors to cover up parts sourced from China, in 18 military procurement tender projects.
Air Force Command procurement officers and Navy Command, both under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of National Defense (MND), must take responsibility and reprimands must be meted out to those guilty of negligence and contraventions in these 18 projects, Control Yuan member Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘) said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Procurement officers under supervision of the Air Force Command had not undertaken the requisite checks for the sourcing of packages for rotor wheels, engine nozzles, windshields and other aircraft parts for maintenance and repair of aircraft, Lai said.
Procurement officers had also not conducted requisite checks on documents provided by contractors for country of origin and manufacturing dates, breaching the terms of the tender contract, he said.
The probe was conducted by Lai together with fellow Control Yuan members Kuo Wen-tung (郭文東) and Hsiao Tzu-yu (蕭自佑).
“Their actions tarnished the fairness and impartiality of government procurement programs, while also undermining aircraft safety, which could jeopardize the lives of the operating crew,” Lai said.
Navy Command also had major breaches in two procurement projects from 2018, for the purchase of valves, electronic control devices and associated parts for ship diesel engines, the probe finding said.
“The tender contracts specified not to source procurement items made in China, but the officers in charge still made the payment, despite the sourcing of many Chinese-made parts,” Lai said.
“Therefore negligence and wrongdoing were involved, and the Navel Command must be reprimanded, and bear responsibility,” Lai added.
Kuo and Hsiao in their probe also found that contractors did not submit the required documents as stipulated in the tender, including for production and expiration dates of parts and import declaration forms. They also failed to follow the guideline on the minimum bid requirement.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
RSS