Former Taiwan District Chief Jailed for Bribery; Vendor Indicted

Former Fuxing District Chief Zeng Zhi-xiang faces a 12-year prison sentence for allegedly accepting NT$3.6 million in bribes during his tenure. The case, currently under appeal, also saw Zeng impeached by the Control Yuan.

Prosecutors have also indicted a 45-year-old suspect, Zhuang, who allegedly bribed officials to secure contracts and inflate invoices for the district office. Zhuang is the girlfriend of another implicated vendor, Wu, who has already been sentenced but is also appealing.

According to the indictment, Zhuang and Wu agreed to pay bribes to Zeng through a female secretary, Cai. The bribes were calculated as 3% of the contract value for public tenders or 10% for small procurement deals under NT$100,000. Between 2015 and 2016, over NT$3.34 million in bribes were reportedly paid, with Zeng sharing portions with Cai.

Further investigations revealed Zhuang also bribed Cai between 2021 and 2022 for small procurement items like volunteer uniforms and cleaning supplies. Zhuang allegedly submitted inflated invoices, pocketing the difference as bribes. For instance, each volunteer uniform was allegedly marked up by NT$500. Prosecutors believe Zhuang's actions violate multiple anti-corruption and accounting laws.

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The former Fuxing District Chief Zeng Zhi-xiang was accused of accepting bribes during his tenure and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Another vendor involved in bribery for bid-switching was indicted by the Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office.