Submarine-building program raises suspicions of fraud

... when a US defense official questioned the credentials of Gavron Ltd, a Gibraltar-based consultancy that won a bid valued at NT$1 billion ... Home TaiwanNews Thu,Oct18,2018page3 Submarine-buildingprogramraisessuspicionsoffraud ByJasonPan/Staffreporter Theindigenoussubmarineprogramhasallthesignsofbecominganothermultibillion-dollarscandaltarnishedbygraftandshadydeals,withshadowyfiguresestablishingshellcompaniestoprocurethecontracts,includingsomewhowereinvolvedintheLafayettefrigatescandalofthe1990s,insiderssaidyesterday. Thefirstwarningwassoundedearlierthisweek,whenaUSdefenseofficialquestionedthecredentialsofGavronLtd,aGibraltar-basedconsultancythatwonabidvaluedatNT$1billion(US$32.41million)tosupervisethedesignofthesubmarines. TheUSofficialwasquotedassayingitseemedlike“fraud”thatanunknowncompanywasabletowinthecontract,whilelawmakerslastweekquestionedGavron’sbusinessregistrationanditsabilitytomeetthetermsofthecontract. ARepublicofChinaNavysubmarineismooredattheZuoyingnavalbaseinKaohsiung’sZuoyingDistrictasawarshipstandsinthebackgroundduringavisitbyPresidentTsaiIng-wenonMarch21lastyear. Photo:ChangChung-i,TaipeiTimes PoliticalpunditandinvestigativejournalistTsaiHan-hsun(蔡漢勳),alsoknownasWindson(溫紳),yesterdaysaidhehasevidencethatGavronisashellcompany. ItwasoriginallyregisteredinLondonasabeverageandtobaccoretailcompany,wentoutofbusinessin2016,andwasthenrevivedasaGibraltar-registeredfirm,hesaid. Foursimilaroverseasentities,likelyalsoshellcompanies,weresetupoverthepastyearbyTaiwanese,includingretiredmilitaryorpeoplewithconnectionstowindefenseprocurementtenders,hesaid. ThesefirmsappeartohavebeenregisteredsimplytobidforsomeoftheNT$3billionbudgetforthefirstphaseoftheindigenoussubmarineprogram,hesaid. “Throughmyinvestigation,IbelievethatfamilymembersofAndrewWang(汪傳浦)areinthebackgroundofsomeofthesecompanies,”Tsaisaid,referringtothearmsbrokerindictedforhisroleinthepurchaseofsixFrench-builtLafayettefrigatesforUS$2.8billionandfortheDecember1993murderofnavycaptainYinChing-feng(尹清楓). Wang,whoatthetimewasthelocalagentforLafayettemanufacturerThomsonCSF—nowknownasThalesGroup—andhisassociatesreportedlypocketedaboutUS$500millionincommissionsforthedeal. WangfledTaiwanafewdaysafterYin’sdeath,goingfirsttotheUSandlatermovingtoEngland,wherehereportedlydiedin2015. MembersofhisfamilynowliveintheUKandothercountries. KuoHsi(郭璽),whowasalsolinkedtotheLafayettescandalandYin’smurder,islistedaschairmanofoneoftheshellcompanies,Tsaisaid. Thegovernmentneedstoconductathoroughinvestigationintothesecompanies,hesaid. TsaiMei-chuan(柴美娟),whoislistedaschairpersonforNTNInternationalCo,theagencyrepresentingGavroninTaiwan,lastyearlefttheNavalCombatSystemFacility,anavalweaponsandelectronicsystemintegrationandrepairyard,soshewouldhavegoodconnectionswithtopnavyofficersandperhapshadtheinsidetrackforGavrontoobtainthecontract,TsaiHan-hsunsaid. NavyofficialssaidTaiwanShipbuildingCorp,whichawardedthecontracttoGavron,andisitselfoneofthemaincontractorsforthesubprogram,wouldconductitsowninvestigationintotheallegations. Itwouldalsofollowtheoversightcriteriafortheprogram,theysaid. Commentswillbemoderated.Keepcommentsrelevanttothearticle.Remarkscontainingabusiveandobscenelanguage,personalattacksofanykindorpromotionwillberemovedandtheuserbanned.FinaldecisionwillbeatthediscretionoftheTaipeiTimes. 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ConcernhasbeenraisedoversupplyofthePfizer-BioNTechvaccineaheadofameetingoftheAdvisoryCommitteeonImmunizationPracticesonThursdaynextweektodiscusswhethertoauthorizebooster ByLeeI-chia Magnitude5.1quakehitscentralTaiwan:bureau 2022-03-21 Amagnitude5.1earthquakehitcentralTaiwanlateonSaturdaynight,theCentralWeatherBureausaidyesterday,addingthataftershocksofmagnitude3to4couldhappenoverthecomingweek. Theearthquakehappened29.4kmsouthofNantouCountyHallatadepthof15.1kmat11:23pm. Thelargestintensitygeneratedbytheearthquakereachedlevel4,whichwasrecordedinNantou,Changhua,YunlinandChiayicountiesaswellasChiayiCity. Quakeswithafocaldepthofupto30kmaredefinedas“veryshallowearthquakes,”thebureausaid. Althoughitisnotuncommonforamagnitude5quaketooccur ByShelleyShan Taxidruggang,Vietnamesepartygoersarrested 2022-03-22 Kaohsiungauthoritieshavearrestedfivepeopleandseizedalmost1,000pouchescontainingamixofnarcotics,while29Vietnamesemigrantworkersarefacingseparatechargesafterallegedlybeingfoundinpossessionofdrugsataparty. Kaohsiungpoliceofficialsyesterdaysaidthatreportshadbeenreceivedthatacrimeringhadsetupacallcentertorespondtoonlineadvertsfornarcoticsandwasdeliveringthegoodsusingtaxis. Aftersurveillingtheoperation,policearrestedfourdriversandarrestedamansurnamedHsu(徐)inarentedbuildinginKaohsiung’sSingsinDistrict(新興). “Hsuwasinchargeoftheplace.Itwas ByJasonPan Copyright©1999-2022TheTaipeiTimes.Allrightsreserved.