Saga of corruption in Hualien continues with former Magistrate’s Deputy Secretary General impeached for bribing local media
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/06/05
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Control Yuan officials, June 4 (By Central News Agency)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Control Yuan completed a probe of Hsieh Kung-ping (謝公秉) on Tuesday (June 4), deciding to impeach the former Deputy Secretary General of the previous Hualien County Magistrate, Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), for corrupt actions taken while in public office.
In a vote of 11 to 0, the Control Yuan members determined that Hseih was guilty of misusing public funds to pursue an unscrupulous campaign of media manipulation in Hualien, which involved offering bribes and a program of financial incentives for reporters and news networks to favorably promote the administration of Fu Kun-Chi.
Fu Kun-chi has a history of committing financial crimes, and many speculate he was also directly involved with the campaign to manipulate the local media with Hseih. The former magistrate was recently released from prison in April, after serving seven months of his original eight month sentence for crimes of stock market manipulation and insider trading, which he committed over a decade ago.
Along with Hseih, the former head of the Research and Evaluation Section of Hualien local county government, Lin Chin-hu (林金虎), was also impeached for his involvement in the corrupt campaign aimed at manipulating public opinion. [FULL STORY]
