Taipei city councilor indicted over government contract corruption

Taipei, July 19 (CNA) Taipei City Councilor Chen Chung-wen (陳重文) was indicted Friday for corruption after being accused of fraudulently obtaining NT$3.21 million (US$97,962) from a government contract.

After several months of investigation, Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted Chen, 46, who represents Taipei's Shilin and Beitou districts for the opposition Kuomintang, with violating the Anti-Corruption Act.

The case involves Taiwan Intelligent Fiber Optic Network Consortium (Taifo), which was awarded a 25-year contract by the Taipei City government in 2011 to build a fiber optic network in the capital of Taiwan as part of a smart city project, during Hau Lung-bin's (郝龍斌) term as mayor from 2006-2014.

Recognizing there were lucrative profits to be gained from Taifo's relationship with the city government, Chen and a friend named Kang Li-chi (康立錡) set up a new company in 2023 with Kang as its named director though Chen was the real boss.

This firm received various projects from Taifo's business deals with the Taipei City government.

From April to June last year, Chen pressured the Taipei Department of Social Welfare on multiple occasions to award a contract installing cloud-based surveillance systems at the city's public nursing care centers to Taifo, prosecutors said.

With the contract awarded to Taifo thanks to Chen, the fiber optic company then subcontracted the project to Kang, who passed it on to Vqorder Co., a New Taipei-based company also registered under his name, to carry out the work.

Through this arrangement, each party involved was able to take a share of the contract money, prosecutors said, indicating that Chen is believed to have made NT$3.21 million in illegal gains through the deal.

On Friday, both Chen and Kang were indicted for corruption and intent to directly or indirectly seek unlawful gains, prosecutors said.

Meanwhile, a separate case which began in March this year involving Taifo and its supply of CCTV cameras used by Taipei police is still being investigated, prosecutors said.