Construction tycoon Chao Teng-hsiung has been released on bail in an alleged bribery case.
Chao is chairman of the Farglory Group. Prosecutors accused Chao and some of his staff members of bribing Taoyuan Deputy Commissioner Yeh Shih-wen in a housing project in the northern county.
The Taipei District Court released Chao on Saturday despite a request by prosecutors to have him and three other suspects detained to prevent collusion. Chao is barred from traveling overseas pending further court proceedings.
Yeh and Chao were both summoned as suspects by the prosecutors’ office Friday. Taipei prosecutors launched searches of Yeh’s office and residence and Farglory’s headquarters in Taipei. That’s after they found that Yeh was suspected of receiving bribes of more than NT$10 million (US$333,000) from Farglory to help it win a housing project bid in Taoyuan in April.
Yeh denied the charges, saying that he borrowed money from the tycoon. But he was dismissed from his position with immediate effect by Taoyuan County Commissioner Wu Chih-yang.
A Farglory official said the company is cooperating with the judicial investigation and that the company has done nothing illegal.