A large number of photovoltaic applications in Fenglin Town, Hualien County, were reported as illegal more than seven years ago. Today, the Hualien District Prosecutor’s Office directed the Tainan City Investigation Division and the Hualien County Investigation Station to go to the Tourism Office, Land Affairs Office and Fenglin Town Office of the Hualien County Government to review relevant files and bring back former town mayor Xiao Wenlong. It is understood that many optoelectronic companies have successively applied for and integrated a large number of optoelectronic projects in Fenglin since 2019, with a total development area of more than 1,000 hectares, accounting for nearly 1/6 of the town’s total area. Local township and town governments have absolute administrative discretion to agree or disagree on optoelectronic projects, and interests are often involved. The investigators are still clarifying the circumstances of the case.
Hualien County Tourism Department Director Yu Mingxi confirmed that investigators were informed today that they would go to the bureau to retrieve information and that assistance from relevant departments was needed, but the other party did not explain what kind of information would be retrieved. In addition, the current mayor of Fenglin Town, Lin Jianping, also confirmed that the inspectors went to the office to search. He said that it was mainly for the previous optoelectronic application case. Since many villagers had doubts about the optoelectronic case, he did not agree to the relevant cases after taking office in 2022. He also cooperated with the inspectors to provide information. He continued to review it from this morning until about 2 o'clock in the afternoon before leaving.
It is understood that a large number of investigators from Tainan City Investigation Office, Hualien Investigation Station and other units quietly stationed in Hualien for the night yesterday. Early this morning, they went to the Hualien County Tourist Office, Government Affairs Office, Land Affairs Office, Agriculture Office and other bureaus, as well as the Fenglin Town Office to review relevant information. The whole case is suspected to be related to the ground-based photovoltaic case. Since 2019, some industry players have taken a fancy to Rizhao and flat land in Fenglin Town, Hualien, and have successively applied for and consolidated a large number of cases. The application process has also been questioned by local people and representatives of the people, and the process is not transparent, triggering protests from local people.
Optoelectronic development involves land changes, right-of-way review, public landmark leasing, and communication with local residents. Local township offices and chiefs have absolute local administrative discretion. Whether or not they agree is related to the development schedule of the industry. Local administrative power plays a key role in this. Therefore, it is common for local representatives to use white gloves to ask the industry to give back to the township or collect kickbacks. Inspectors also launched simultaneous searches in Taipei and Tainan today, but the inspection unit remained tight-lipped about the case and the content of the search.
Former Fenglin Town Mayor Xiao Wenlong has profound political experience. He started as a grassroots mayor and town representative in the early days. He has successively served as Chairman of the Fenglin Town People’s Representative Association and Hualien County Councilor. He served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Fenglin Town Party Headquarters of the Kuomintang and the Deputy Secretary-General of the Kuomintang Group of the Hualien County Council. In 2014, he was elected to Fenglin Town. Mayor Lin was successfully re-elected by the Kuomintang in 2018. This year he returned to the KMT and ran for mayor again. The Tainan City Investigation Office has been involved in the investigation of many major optoelectronic fraud cases in the past. The relevant cases have been silent for a long time. Now that there is a search across counties and cities in Taiwan, the case may not be simple.
The Hualien County government has been subject to frequent judicial investigations in recent years. In June this year, when the county government was handling the bidding process for nutritious lunches for small and medium-sized schools, it was suspected of being a profit-making manufacturer. After being interviewed by the prosecutor, Yan Xinzhang, the deputy county magistrate, posted a bail of 1 million yuan; in July, the earthquake donation was inspected. Because the accounts were unclear, Chen Jiafu, director of the county government's social affairs department, and others were interviewed by prosecutors and released on bail of 400,000 yuan after interrogation. Yesterday, the county government's tourist office was searched and searched for information, but no relevant county personnel were interviewed. The main purpose was to collect information to clarify the case.
The Hualien County Government pointed out in a statement in the evening that there is only one first-type ground-based photovoltaic manufacturer in the Hualien area. It is located in Fenglin Town and covers an area of 66 hectares. The approval filing, equipment registration and electrical industry license are issued by the central government. In response to the national energy transition policy, the Energy Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs began to authorize local governments to review Type 3 renewable energy equipment in 2020. Although there are applications, County Magistrate Xu Zhenwei has not yet approved any Type 1 terrestrial photovoltaic applications during his tenure. Only one of the first large-scale terrestrial photovoltaics in Hualien County was approved by the county and city authorities when Cai Bizhong was acting as county magistrate. The rest were not approved and were strictly evaluated to safeguard the rights and interests of villagers and environmental protection.
The Hualien County Government once again emphasized that the aforementioned ground-based photovoltaic case sites will strictly abide by laws and regulations during the review process. Applicants must hold a local briefing meeting and prepare a letter of opinion from the land agency and a letter of consent from the office before submitting it to the county government to ensure the feasibility and sustainability of the case. Photovoltaic facilities must not only comply with the principles of environmental sustainability, but also ensure the protection of the rights and interests of local residents and the environmental ecology.
