13 December 2019
Fifteen people were indicted yesterday by the prosecutors for corruption related to the Terminal 2 expansion projects at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (in picture). Charges filed involved bid-rigging and kickbacks for helping firms win contracts.
The United Daily News and the Liberty Times reported that between 2017 and 2018, Lin Wen-chen,58, and his deputy, Wu Chun-tsung,45, demanded payments equalling 3 percent or US$197,800 on projects worth a total of $6 million. Lin was the head if the airport engineering department. The investigation started in 2016 after repeated media reports of leaking ceilings and floors, indicating the new terminal had serious quality problems. Investigations revealed that Lin had passed on confidential information to bidders, revised budgets and misreported prices in order to favour certain companies.
Prosecutors said that Lin had instructed Wu to act as an intermediary to deal with the contractors and take kickbacks in different phases. In addition, in a related project for groundwork and foundation construction on Terminal 3, Lin had reportedly received kickbacks in the form of paid vacations from subcontractor Apex Science and Engineering Corp, the prosecutors said.
Kickbacks were paid in cash stuffed in fruit boxes and were handed over to Wu. Lin reportedly admitted he had accepted money, but said the companies had offered him the commissions voluntarily, but the contractors accused the official of demanding 3 percent commission.
Taiwan News reported.
