Shieh Acquitted

During Chen Shui-bian's second term a number of officials were prosecuted for corruption in what looked to many like a deliberate political put up job intended to create the impression that the Administration was corrupt. Today the Taipei Times reported on an acquittal in one of the most outrageous cases:

The Tainan District Court on Wednesday found former deputy minister of the National Science Council Shieh Ching-jyh (謝清志) innocent of corruption charges.

Ten defendants, including Shieh and Hsu Hung-chang (許鴻章), owner of Sheus Technologies Corp —also known as Hung Hua Engineering — were indicted in 2006, accused of corruption by a rival bidder after Sheus won an NT$8.05 billion (US$262 million) construction tender to reduce the vibrations caused by the high speed rail as it passes through the Southern Taiwan Science Park.

I've blogged on this one before, in 2006 at Taiwan Matters! The human cost of this mess should be obvious from this 2006 discussion on the Hyphen Blog (don't miss the comments).

[Taiwan]