Taiwan former interior minister Yu Cheng-hsien released on a NT$1 mln bail

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - Former interior minister Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) was released on a NT$1 million bail after a 10-minute detention hearing this morning.

He was listed as a defendant and summoned over an alleged corruption concerning the construction of Taipei's Nangang Convention Center on Oct. 16. After two hours of questioning in the prosecutor's office, Yu was detained on the same day. Today marks the 42nd day as well as the last day of Yu's life in the Taipei Detention Center in Tucheng, Taipei County.

Yu spoke to the media this morning and stressed that he did not take a penny in an alleged corruption scandal related to the construction of the Taipei World Trade Center Nangang Exhibition Hall. Yu was asked by the media: Did he leak a list of the Nangang project's evaluation committee members to the Rich Construction group (力麒建設) in exchange for NT$30 million kickback to help the company win contracts in a construction bid? Yu did not say anything because he had to respect to the presumption of innocence or the confidentiality of judicial investigations.

Nevertheless, Yu's watery eyes seemed to tell reporters that he felt distressed. He said that his life in the detention center was, of course, a nightmare, but he had tried hard to adapt himself to the adverse environment. Yu thanked staffers in the detention center for helping him to seek medical treatments twice for his bad cold. He also offered an apology to the public for causing all the trouble he has gone to.

Yu said that he learned from his lawyer that former President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was also detained in the same detention center, but he did not want to go deep in discussing cases related to the former first family.

Yu is the fifth detained defendants involving in the corruption case related to the former first family to be released.

by Taiwan News, Website Editorial Staff原出處