Chiayi magistrate and sister indicted for corruption
CNA 2012-12-01 12:32
Chang Hua-kuan. (File photo/Wang Hsuan-chi)
Chiayi county magistrate Chang Hua-kuan, her sister Chang Ying-chi, and a county official were indicted on corruption and bribery charges Friday.
Chang, her sister and Chiu Feng-ming, an official in the southern Taiwan county government's planning department, were charged with taking more than NT$7 million (US$233,300) in bribes from several companies to help them secure government contracts, said prosecutors at the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office.
The three allegedly used their influence to sway tenders related to an industrial park project, the purchase of garbage trucks, and cleaning project contracts in the county between May 2011 and July 2012.
Prosecutors said that in exchange for bribes the three leaked confidential information to favored bidders, including lists of academics hired to screen bidders' qualifications in each tender.
Chang Ying-chi allegedly contacted potential bidders directly or indirectly through middlemen in all three cases on her sister's behalf to feel out which ones were willing to pay bribes.
Chang Ying-chi wielded her influence while serving as a deputy secretary-general of the county's trade and investment promotion association, after stepping down as a secretary in Chang Hua-kuan's office at the end of her sister's first term in 2009, prosecutors said.
Eighteen other individuals were indicted, including Yeh Ya-chiang, a businessman who was charged with paying bribes, and Wu Ming-chun, director of the Department of Technology Management at the Open University of Kaohsiung and a member of a tender screening panel, who was charged with accepting bribes.
Yeh and Wu played middlemen roles in the cleaning project contract case, in which prosecutors said NT$5.12 million (US$176,000) changed hands in kickbacks.
Chang Hua-kuan dismissed the charges, describing the indictments as "judicial persecution" that consisted of mostly speculation and lacked solid evidence. She said she will be proved innocent in court.
Prosecutors and Ministry of Justice investigators launched a search of Chiayi County Hall in late July and summoned the magistrate for questioning on the allegations related to the government procurement bribery cases.
In mid-October, prosecutors listed Chang Hua-kuan as a potential defendant in the case, and she was released on NT$1 million (US$33,400) bail.
