Control Yuan: Procurement cases become bribery targets, correcting CPC's management failure and corruption

Taipei, July 8 (CNA) The Control Yuan stated today that CPC Corporation's Refinery Business Unit had serious systemic and structural problems in its procurement processes, including leaking information, procurement cases becoming targets for senior executives to solicit bribes, and condoning employees under investigation to receive excellent performance evaluations and generous bonuses. The internal personnel management mechanism of CPC has failed, and its integrity has been corrupted, leading the Control Yuan to issue a correction to CPC Corporation.

Former CPC Refinery Business Unit Executive Vice President Hsu Han was sentenced to 25 years in prison in the first trial for corruption. In June, the Control Yuan stated that Hsu Han, along with former and current managers of the Dalin Refinery's Engineering Department, Huang Jung-tai and Ou Wen-feng, and former engineer Chang Tzu-fang from the Refinery Business Unit's Engineering Office Maintenance Section, were involved in procurement cases where they allegedly benefited themselves or unscrupulous contractors, constituting major irregularities. An impeachment case was recently passed and transferred to the Disciplinary Court for trial.

Control Yuan members Wang Li-chen, Tsai Chung-yi, and Chang Chu-fang stated in a press release today that after in-depth investigation, CPC's Refinery Business Unit's procurement processes exhibit serious systemic and structural problems.

Control Yuan members said that Hsu Han's actions, such as replacing dissenting colleagues and supervisors, promising subordinates promotions, and fully complying with contractor bids, indicate a structural problem where CPC's Refinery Business Unit management fully led and then induced subordinates to cooperate.

Control Yuan members stated that the refrigeration and air conditioning industry requires a registered certificate to operate. For CPC's Refinery Business Unit's chilled water unit project, with a budget of nearly NT$200 million, the bidding process unilaterally relaxed the industry restrictions for bidders, allowing companies without the professional registration to participate in cross-industry bidding.

Control Yuan members also said that CPC's Refinery Business Unit, in its inclusive park project, unilaterally required contractors to cooperate with additional engineering items without providing a budget for payment, only advising contractors to absorb the costs themselves. Furthermore, knowing that the increased work items would lead to tight project timelines, they did not provide reasonable construction periods, causing the responsible supervisors and personnel, in order to meet the supervisors' demands, to falsely record information in the work stoppage report. This demonstrates that CPC's Refinery Business Unit did not adhere to the principles of fairness in government procurement, creating difficulties in contract performance and subsequently turning procurement cases into targets for senior executives to solicit bribes.

Control Yuan members also said that CPC's Refinery Business Unit personnel, in order to allow their favored contractors to win bids, leaked procurement case information while repeatedly consuming services at venues with female escorts with contractors in a short period. Some contractors also paid for these expenses, gaining improper benefits, which shows that CPC's internal personnel management mechanism has failed and its integrity has been corrupted.

In addition, Control Yuan members stated that CPC's Refinery Business Unit excessively issued VIP passes to project "brokers" for engineering bids, and these "brokers" directly went to the Dalin Refinery plant director's office to demand expedited processing of relevant procurement cases.

Control Yuan members said that the Ministry of Personnel, in a letter dated 2020, pointed out that agencies could, depending on the circumstances, revoke and re-evaluate the year-end performance evaluations of individuals involved in irregularities. However, CPC Corporation did not proactively re-evaluate the annual excellent performance evaluations of the involved personnel. Only after the Control Yuan inquired and requested a review did they change the performance evaluations of the involved personnel to unsatisfactory in April of this year.

Control Yuan members said that these unbelievable situations all indicate that CPC Corporation has accumulated problems for a long time. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and CPC Corporation should thoroughly reflect and deepen their procurement audit and internal control mechanisms to prevent similar incidents from happening again. (Edited by Lin Hsing-meng) 1150708

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