Issue #153, 24 March 2005
Two politicians involved in Taiwanese illegal sand sales probe
Two politicians in Taiwan have been questioned about illegal sand dredging activities.
In mid-March, Tainan County Council Speaker Wu Chien-bao and Councilor Lee Chuan-fu, both Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members, were accused of illegally quarrying sand from the Tsengwen River and earning more than NT$1 billion selling the sand to construction companies.
Tainan District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Fan Wen-hao said Wu was summoned by prosecutors for questioning and that they asked the court last night to detain him.
Prosecutors have not been able to locate Lee.
Prosecutors said Wu ran the Tainan-based Fu-hsin Co, which won a public bid in March last year to dredge the channel of the Tsengwen River. Prosecutors said Lee Chuan-fu had cooperated with Wu on the sand business.
They said the contract called for the company to quarry silt from the river and deepen its channel to 4m. However, they said, the company deepened the channel to 13m, and sold the dredged sand toconstruction companies while partially filling the channelwith earth from the riverbank.
The prosecutors also said that the quarrying had severely damaged the environment and endangered bridges across the river.
Dredging News Online
