The High Prosecutors’ Office this week announced plans to reopen an investigation into three civil servants for potential involvement in the Keelung E-Square Mall (基隆東岸商場) case.
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office earlier decided not to charge three civil servants, surnamed Chen (陳), Ho (賀) and Chang (張), with concealing public rental space income to benefit Lucky Parking Co (大日開發), although Chen and Ho were charged with bribery and leaking confidential information.
The indictment alleged that a man surnamed Su (蘇) — head of Lucky Parking, which previously operated E-Square’s parking lot — gave Chen bribe money totaling NT$950,000 (US$29,459) from 2018 to 2022 when he was a temporary employee of the Keelung City Government.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
In 2019, Ho, then an employee of the city’s Department of Transportation, allegedly leaked information to Lucky Parking after learning that the company was under review for corruption, prosecutors said.
In 2016, Su allegedly underreported Lucky Parking’s annual revenue from the parking lot, exempting the company from royalty payments totaling NT$4.86 million to the city, they said.
Chen was charged under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), Ho was charged under the Criminal Code for leaking confidential information, and Su and nine other Lucky Parking employees were charged under the Anti-Corruption Act, as well as the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法) and Tax Collection Act (稅捐稽徵法).
The Keeling office also found that Ho and Zhang allegedly agreed to conceal rental income for Lucky Parking, although since it it was not clear whether they had the intention to illegally benefit from such an act, prosecutors declined to press charges against the three men for profit-seeking and instead referred the case to the High Prosecutors’ Office.
The High Prosecutors’ Office concluded that additional clarification was required and returned the case to the Keeling office.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated