Prosecutors investigate Coast Guard cutter controversy
ROC Central News Agency
2016/03/03 18:22:12
Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Prosecutors and investigators went to the headquarters of the Maritime Patrol Directorate-General (MPDG) in New Taipei's Tamsui District Thursday to examine documents regarding a cutter belonging to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and question officials who were involved in its construction.
The 2,000-ton cutter 'Tainan' (CG126) cost NT$1.5 billion (US$45.51 million) and was commissioned in late 2010.
Its builder, the Kaohsiung-based Jong Shyn Shipbuilding Co. (中信造船), said prosecutors visited the firm and took away a manager and some documents.
Responding to reports that helicopters cannot land on the cutter because of its shoddy construction, Jong Shyn employees pointed out that the original design of the cutter had no chopper pad and that this was added later by the CGA.
The MPDG said that the building, maintenance and acceptance check of all its ships are conducted according to lawful procedures and that it will cooperate with the investigation by the Shilin District Prosecutors Office.
The cutter suffered three serious incidences of damage, costing NT$380 million to repair, and was out of service for 848 days in the four years from late 2010 to late 2014, according to a report by the Liberty Times newspaper in August 2015.
The cutter, which carries a crew of 68, has a cruising range of 7,500 nautical miles at 15 knots, and travels to the Dongsha (Pratas) and Nansha (Spratly) archipelagos in the South China Sea.
(By Liu Chien-pang, Chen Chao-fu and Kuo Chung-han)
ENDITEM/J
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
