During the questioning, Taoyuan City Councilor Li Guangda questioned Culture Director Qiu Zhengsheng’s previous term as a director of a cultural and creative company. Now that he has won the bid for many city government projects, it is inevitable that he will have interests to avoid the issue.
Democratic Progressive Party City Councilor Li Guangda broke the news during an inquiry today that Culture Director Qiu Zhengsheng had previously served as a director of a cultural and creative company. After Qiu Zhengsheng became director, the company obtained a large number of bids from the city government. During the bid opening process, Qiu asked employees to leave the meeting and talked to manufacturers alone, etc. Obviously, he did not do a good job of avoiding interests. Qiu Zhengsheng responded that he had returned all his shares before taking office as director and did not serve as a director. He had never participated in the bidding process and selection in the four years since he had been in politics. If there were any problems, there would be employees there to discuss with the manufacturers.
Qiu Zhengsheng responded that when he discusses matters with manufacturers, there will always be a special committee or colleagues from the business department present, and he will not talk to manufacturers alone; and he will not participate in the bidding process from handling to selection. Relevant matters will only be discussed at review meetings or working meetings after the manufacturer wins the bid.
Qiu Zhengsheng emphasized that before the Republic of China took office on December 25, 2022, all private company equity and positions had been terminated, and the company also participated in Taoyuan City Government bidding projects during the tenure of former Mayor Zheng Wencan. As long as the company is not listed as a non-performing manufacturer by the Public Works Committee and bids in accordance with the law, the Cultural Affairs Bureau will handle it in accordance with the procedures of the Government Procurement Law.
Mayor Zhang Shanzheng supported Qiu Zhengsheng, saying that he was quite satisfied with the overall performance of the bureau heads appointed during his term. Avoidance of interests is a norm that civil servants should abide by, including the stocks he himself holds, which are also subject to relevant norms of the Supervisory Yuan. He believes that the ethics of city government employees will also be handled in accordance with relevant norms.
Li Guangda said that before Qiu Zhengsheng took office, the company received more than 31 million yuan in bids from the Cultural Affairs Bureau, which increased to more than 47 million yuan after he took office; the bids from other city government units were zero before he took office, and about 37 million yuan after he took office; the non-city government business portion also increased from about 46 million yuan before he took office to more than 72 million yuan. Although Qiu Zhengsheng has resigned as a director and has no relationship with the company, from the perspective of interest avoidance and administrative separation, the city government should take a cautious look at whether he is still suspected of being "a man in the field".
Li Guangda also mentioned that employees of the Cultural Affairs Bureau reported that when a manufacturer was present, Qiu Zhengsheng asked the employee to leave and talk to the manufacturer alone; when other employees asked the winning bidder to perform marketing and promotion work according to the content of the bid, the manufacturer could report directly to the director. If the employee made more demands, the director may also be called in to talk.
