Taipei prosecutors issued orders on Tuesday to search eleven locations and question thirteen individuals connected to the Taiwanese state-owned petrochemical giant CPC Corporation for profiteering on the budget of an outer breakwater amidst the company's construction of a large gas terminal in Taoyuan.
The individuals called in for questioning amid the ongoing investigation include two company officials overseeing the project and former chairman Shih Yi-fang.
Prosecutors launched the case and began collecting evidence after receiving a tip and an audio recording from an anonymous whistleblower on November 11, alleging that the total cost for the second phase of the terminal project
The case alleges that the company inflated the project's budget by billions of New Taiwanese dollars, with senior CPC executives intentionally overpricing costs from the project's original budget of NTD 9.4 billion. They allegedly refused bids at twelve, fifteen, and twenty-two billion dollars from vendors before finallytendering a bid of NTD 25.3 billion. （Related： Taiwanese Wind Farm Passes Second Year of Operations ｜ Latest ）
CPC stated that it will cooperate and assist the authorities during the searches to expedite the case.
