The Keelung District Prosecutor's Office investigated Keelung City Councilor Zeng Jiyan and Keelung City officials involving corruption and project bid-rigging. The investigation concluded today (5th). The prosecutor determined that Keelung City Renai District Councilor Zeng Jiyan assisted Keelung City Government's disaster emergency rescue contract manufacturer Qian Taifeng and the person in charge of Qian Taifeng to obtain "members' proposal funds" projects for a long time. He was involved in accepting NT$1.33 million in bribes from He Man, and the source of more than 16.88 million yuan of property is unknown. It was also determined that four civil servants, including former Urban Development Department Public Utilities Section Chief Gu Shengxuan, former Zhongzheng District Office Chief Fu Junsheng, contractor Chen Nanhong, and contract employee Yang Hongqi of the Procurement Center, also accepted bribes ranging from 90,000 to 3.55 million yuan from He Peishen. Zeng and others were charged with bribery and violation of the Government Procurement Law according to the Corruption Crime Regulations, and the whole case was transferred to the Keelung District Court for trial.
Since Zeng Jiyan and others were charged with committing a crime involving corruption and accepting bribes for more than five years, which was a felony for more than five years, they were included in the scope of the National Judges Act in January this year. This case became the first case in Keelung that the National Judges Act was applied.
The Keelung District Court's custody court convened in the afternoon and ruled at about 8 p.m. that Zeng Jiyan, Gu Shengxuan, He Peishen, Yang Hongqi, Fu Junsheng, Chen Nanhong and others were guilty of crimes that carry the minimum sentence of more than five years in prison. There were sufficient reasons to believe that there was a risk of escape, evidence destruction and collusion. It would be difficult to hold a trial without being detained. After verifying the reasons and necessity of the detention, it was ruled that Zeng and the other six people should be detained for no reason.
When Zeng Jiyan was serving as a member of the 20th Keelung City Council, business owner He Peishen hinted at providing funding to Zeng Nan in order to successfully obtain the "Member Suggestion Fund" project and speed up the acceptance of bids. After Zeng Jiyan agreed, from April 2023 to June this year, he collected a total of 1.33 million yuan in bribes from He Nan and assisted in caring about the progress of the acceptance. In addition, prosecutors compared Zeng's accounts and found that Zeng's spouse surnamed Wu frequently deposited cash at the counter or in small amounts, amounting to more than 16.88 million yuan. After deducting the two people's monthly salary of about 130,000 yuan and daily expenses, the increase in property was clearly not commensurate with the income. Zeng Nan could only explain the source of 1.65 million yuan of it, but could not provide a reasonable explanation for the rest. He was also involved in the crime of unknown sources of property.
In addition to Zeng Jiyan accepting bribes from He Peishen, Gu Shengxuan, the former public utilities section chief of the Urban Development Department of the Keelung City Government, helped He Peishen successfully withdraw money from contracted projects and collected a bribe of 3.55 million yuan. Fu Junsheng, the former head of the Zhongzheng District Office, and Chen Nanhong, a contractor, were suspected of profiting millions of dollars from Qian Taifeng, who was bidding under a license, while handling the post-typhoon repair project in Shantuoer. Fu Nan also received more than 230,000 yuan in bribes for reporting information about the bidding case. Yang Hongqi, an employee of the Procurement Center of the Comprehensive Development Office of the Keelung City Government, leaked bidding manufacturer information to He and received a bribe of 90,000 yuan.
