A police officer at Taiwan’s Aviation Police Bureau has been indicted on corruption charges by Taiwanese prosecutors after it was discovered that he facilitated the procurement of 17 x-ray securityscanners valued at more than NT$70 million (US$2 million) from a Chinese firm.

Local media report that Sun Yi-ming (孫一鳴) accepted a NT$3.6 million bribe after being seduced by Li Weilin (李委霖), a 32-year-old manager at Nuctech in Taiwan, a Chinese company run by individuals with links to the Chinese Communist Party, including a son of former president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤). Knowing Sun was responsible for the procurement, Li made contact with him in 2013, and they developed an affair, according to reports. Sun was already married with children.

Nuctech’s products are not approved by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and a direct purchase would have violated the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA).

To ensure that the product met regulatory standards, Sun arranged for the machines to be reassembled in Japan.

A Taiwanese company, Chinese Yuan Industrial Co. (漢元興業), was used for the bid to supply the machines, thus giving the appearance that they were not supplied from China. Fourteen of the devices purchased were later found to be defective.

Sun was arrested on May 28 and has been accused of corruption. A Chinese Yuan Industrial employee has also been detained. Taiwanese officials have said this was a serious breach of national security.

Prosecutors believe that more senior aviation police officials are involved, as Sun’s ranking at the bureau was not high enough to carry out the scam on his own.

First Editor: Edward White
Second Editor: J. Michael Cole