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.
‘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
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and