Prosecutors have questioned more than 30 people as part of an investigation into alleged corruption and misconduct by Hsinchu City police, as city councilors accused local politicians and officials of pressuring law enforcement officials.
At least 21 city police officers and other high-ranking officials face charges of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), mainly arising from canceling traffic tickets.
As of yesterday evening, a bail court judge approved the detention of a detective surnamed Chang (張), while a police station chief and a police officer were released on bail of NT$200,000 and NT$120,000 respectively.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The probe began last month with searches and a summons to question Sung Juei-chan (宋瑞展), a high-ranking police official, and Peng Hsueh-lei (彭學雷), first secretary of the Hsinchu City Council, on suspicion of taking bribes from operators of electronic gambling parlors so their business would not be raided or inspected.
Sung and Peng were put in judicial detention after questioning.
Prosecutors said they also had implicated several other retired and current police officials, and gathered material, including telecom records relating to canceling of traffic tickets and other issues, leading to the second wave of investigation, Hsinchu chief prosecutor Chou Mao-yu (鄒茂瑜) said.
Some city councilors said although they expect the judiciary to conduct a thorough probe, prosecutors must find out which local politicians are responsible for pressuring police officers to cancel the traffic tickets.
“Rank-and-file officers have for years come under a lot of pressure thorough persuasion, threats targeting their jobs and to cut city police department budgets. We demand that prosecutors check telecom records and reveal the local politicians, elected representatives and government officials, who also must abide by and respect the law, and not pressure officers to cancel the tickets,” Democratic Progressive Party Hsinchu City Councilor Yang Ling-yi (楊玲宜) said yesterday.
Political commentator and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓) said the two waves of investigation have resulted in the “largest police corruption case” in Hsinchu, while the city’s Beimen Precinct has trouble operating due to more than half of its police force being under investigation.
Lee demanded that Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) member, resign from office due to her “bad governance.”
Kao is also being investigated in a corruption case related to when she served as legislator-at-large for the TPP from 2020 to 2022.
City councilors also accused Kao and city police officials of negligence in not acting on complaints.
Some Hsinchu residents over the past few weeks have said that underground passages of Hsinchu Railway Station have been occupied by people sleeping or sitting to escape from the summer heat, at times blocking pedestrians.
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