Public prosecutors indicted 15 people yesterday — five former city government officials and 10 members of Ysolar Group (力暘集團) — after an investigation into a controversial solar energy project in Tainan’s Cigu District (七股)
The case involved former Tainan Economic Development Bureau chief Chen Kai-ling (陳凱凌) and his subordinate officials who were acccused of revising regulations and circumventing procedures to secure land for Ysolar Group projects, in a scheme projected to net NT$9.126 billion over 20 years, the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Ysolar Group president Ku Sheng-hui (古盛煇) and general manager Hsu Shuo-ting (徐碩廷), two principal figures in the case, were indicted, along with executives of five subsidiary companies of Ysolar Group for their involvement, prosecutors said.
Photo: Wang Chieh, Taipei Times
During the investigation, prosecutors said they carried out six raids to serve summons and gather evidence, and took in 246 people for questioning.
Ku and his five subsidiary companies purchased land in Cigu District in 2020 and 2021, with plans to set up photovoltaic panels for general solar energy, prosecutors said, adding that the companies hoped to receive government subsidies for the project.
Ku allegedly colluded with Chen and his subordinates to circumvent restrictions on “plots of land of under two hectares” and to revise regulations through illicit means to permit the construction of a solar energy project on agricultural land, the indictment filing showed.
Chen and his officials assisted in the falsifying of documents, instructing Ku’s companies to revise the dates on application papers for the planned projects in Cigu, to retroactively be included in a plan by the Ministry of Economic Affairs “to generate 6.5 gigawatts of energy by solar photovoltaic panels by 2020,” the filing said.
Prosecutors alleged that Chen illegitimately favored the Ysolar projects by removing the original application papers, and replacing them with retroactively dated papers, to enable the projects to be included in the ministry’s 2020 target for solar energy production and to help bypass the “plots of land under two hectares” restriction on land-use.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
RSS