Investigators yesterday questioned four Hsinchu City Government officials over allegations that they had given illegal benefits to a contractor that last year worked on soil analysis at Hsinchu Baseball Stadium.
Tien Cheng-hung (田政弘), an office secretary for suspended Hsinchu mayor Ann Kao (高虹安), was released on bail of NT$50,000 (US$1,555) after being questioned by prosecutors and Ministry of Justice Agency Against Corruption personnel. Tien is one of four suspects in the case.
A Hsinchu Education Department official surnamed Huang (黃) and a section chief surnamed Lin (林), who were in charge of the city’s sports venues, were released on bail of NT$30,000 each, while Hsinchu Sports and Health Education section staff member was released without bail.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
All four face charges of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), prosecutors said.
A NT$1.76 million contract to conduct an analysis of soil samples from the stadium went to Bros Sports Marketing Co after Kao became mayor in 2022.
Kao and other city officials said that the stadium had numerous issues, including an unfinished surface, metal and foreign objects in the subsoil, faulty drainage and other safety concerns.
Kao blamed former Hsinchu mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅), who allocated NT$870 million to repair and modernize the ballpark, with the work scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Tien and the Education Department were in charge of the tender to analyze seven soil samples after US experts specializing in ballpark soil and drainage issues were consulted, prosecutors said.
The samples were given to Bros Sports Marketing to store.
Hsinchu City Council members alleged a conflict of interest and graft, accusing Tien and other city officials of illegally benefiting the company.
Kao was suspended as mayor when the Taipei District Court in July convicted her on corruption charges from her time as a Taiwan People’s Party lawmaker from 2020 to 2022.
In other news, the Taipei District Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by two suspects seeking release amid an investigation into the Core Pacific City redevelopment project in Taipei.
Former Dingyue Development Corp president Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎) and Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), director-general of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) office, posed a flight risk, and might collude and tamper with evidence in the probe, the court said.
The decision means Chu and Lee would be held with restricted communications until a trial over allegations that Core Pacific Group executives lobbied Taipei City Government officials to increase the floor area ratio to gain financial benefits for a development project in 2020.
Additional reporting by Huang Mei-chu and Yang Kuo-wen
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS