Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Simon Liu/Presidential Office/CC BY 2.0
HSINCHU COUNTY COMMISSIONER Yang Wen-ke has been indicted on charges of collusion with a construction firm, the Fong Yi Construction Company.
In particular, Yang is accused of allowing construction to continue on the Wonder World 520 project in Jhubei in spite of eight incidents of wall collapses and sinkholes by the Fong Yi Construction Company. Nevertheless, after the incidents, the Fong Yi Construction Company donated to Yang’s reelection campaign, providing food, office space, and other services.
Yang’s senior secretary, Chiang Liang-yuan, who was previously head of the Hsinchu County Public Works Department also faces charges. Yang is accused of accepting 12.4 million NT in cash bribes, while Yang had 698,500 NT in gold and jewelry. According to the indictment, the Fong Yi Construction Company was able to make 250 million NT in illegal profits as a result.
Yang was originally detained for questioning over the Wonder World 520 project in late February on suspicion of violating the Anti-Corruption Act. However, prosecutors decided that it was not necessary to detain him and allowed him to be released.
The Yang case takes place in a similar timeframe to former Taoyuan mayor Cheng Wen-tsan of the DPP being detained twice over corruption charges. Though Cheng was initially released on bail of 5 million NT, this was overturned, and raised to 12 million NT. Courts later overturned Cheng’s second bail.
Cheng was detained over bribery accusations in connection to the rezoning of a plot in Guishan District. The case occurred seven years ago, when Cheng was mayor of Taoyuan.
The DPP struggled with corruption allegations dogging local politicians during the Chen Shui-bian administration. This is a factor as to why the KMT eventually retook power in 2008. But during the eight years of the Tsai administration, it was less common for there to be corruption charges facing pan-Green politicians.
In past years, KMT politicians that have faced accusations of involvement in embezzlement, insider trading, money laundering, illegal construction, and similar charges ranged from Yilan county magistrate Lin Zi-miao, Keelung mayor George Hsieh, and Yunlin county commissioner Chang Li-shan. Current KMT caucus convener Fu Kun-chi has long had a reputation for political corruption, even within the KMT, along with his wife, Hualien county magistrate Hsu Chen-wei.
Other pan-Blue politicians from the TPP also came under fire, including Hsinchu mayoral candidate Ann Kao of the TPP, who was accused of pocketing fees illegally from assistants, and Miaoli county magistrate candidate Chung Tung-chin, who previously served jail time over being linked to a gang-related killing.
Yang Wen-ke. Photo credit: Hsinchu County Government
Kao now faces up to seven years and four months of jail time, per sentencing that took place last week. KMT legislator Yen Kuan-heng, likewise, faces up to eight years and four months of jail time over corruption and forgery charges, with the sentencing taking place around the same time that the jail sentence facing Kao was announced last week.
The Yang case occurs in the same timeframe as relatives of KMT legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin facing indictment over a money laundering case. Hsu’s sister-in-law, Liu Hsiang-hsieh, and Liu’s husband, Tu Ping-cheng, were accused of money laundering as part of an investigation into a scam ring, leading to over 27 million NT in illegal profits.
Hsu has denied any connection to wrongdoing by Liu and Tu. Yet this has not prevented the DPP from pointing to oddities in a sudden increase in Hsu’s income, in that Hsu and Liu reported 4.58 million NT in assets at the end of 2022, but this had suddenly increased to 8.75 million NT by the end of 2023, with an increase in 4.15 million NT from bank deposits. Hsu has faced allegations of being linked to the case, seeing as she lent her in-laws 1 million NT.
Similarly, Hsu has been accused of potentially being implicated in corruption allegations against Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je over the unusual increase in the floor area ratio of the Core Pacific City mall that took place during his mayoral administration. Namely, Hsu and her husband, Liu Yen-li, purchased property near the Core Pacific Mall in 2021 near the mall, raising questions as to whether she purchased this on the basis of insider information about the development plans for the site. While Hsu purchased the property at a cost of 18 million NT, in the future, the property could be sold for 60 million NT.
It is to be seen, then, whether local corruption charges impact the KMT going forward. The party has more commonly embraced the claim that the DPP is simply seeking to target the KMT politically rather than answer such allegations, even if young members of the KMT have sometimes called on the party to shed its “black gold” image for political corruption in past years.