Former KMT lawmaker indicted for suspected corruption

Taipei, Feb. 19 (CNA) The Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutors Office on Wednesday indicted former Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) for alleged corruption involving a green energy project.

Liao and his office director, surnamed Hong (洪), were indicted for accepting bribes while three others surnamed Tsai (蔡), Chih (池) and Hsieh (謝) were indicted for giving bribes, according to the indictment document.

The bribery case involves a government tender project to develop a floating solar power system in Mudan Reservoir, Mudan Township, Pingtung County in 2017, prosecutors said.

The project was abandoned due to high investment costs and opposition from local Indigenous communities, and halted by Pingtung County Government in 2018.

In 2019, developers Tsai and Chih wanted to relaunch the project. Chih cooperated with Hsieh, a manager at MAIORA Renewable Energy at the time, while Tsai, via Hong, asked Liao to pressure the Water Resources Agency (WRA) and the Southern Region Water Resources Branch to accept the project, offering financial incentives to do so, prosecutors said.

Liao told the developers via Hong in November 2019 that the agencies were open to the project, requesting NT$500,000 (US$15,256) as "election sponsorship," upon which Tsai, Chih and Hsieh handed the cash to Hong as an advance payment.

After being reelected as a lawmaker in January 2020, Liao became convener of the Legislature Economics Committee. He called a coordination meeting in February to demand the threshold of the solar power project be lowered, but this was rejected by the WRA and the Southern Branch.

That same month, he convened another coordination meeting to request evaluation of a schedule to relaunch the project, while asking Hong to solicit bribes from Tsai.

Tsai paid Liao's office NT$2 million as a quid pro quo for the coordination meetings, according to the indictment.

In March, Liao invited Chung Chao-kung (鍾朝恭), then-deputy director of the WRA to the coordination meeting and pressured Chung to promote the project. He then instructed Hong to arrange a meeting with Tsai to ask for another bribe, when he received NT$2.5 million.

Under pressure from Liao, the WRA Southern Branch requested Mudan Township Office and Mudan Township Council provide opinions on the project. The office refused while the council passed a resolution to ask Liao to suspend the project.

Later that year, as Liao was held in detention on corruption charges and could not help promote the project, Tsai asked him to return the bribes. Liao claimed to have returned NT$500,000 but could not spare any more, resulting in them falling-out.

Tsai then reported the bribery case to the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau.