Gas station employee admits to tainting fuel

Investigators handling the investigation took the worker back to the gas station yesterday to demonstrate how the methyl alcohol was added at the gas station located on Wanfang Road in Wenshan District.

The worker was temporarily named as an accomplice in the illegal activity pending a further probe.

The investigators have also seized the transaction documents between the gas station and methyl alcohol suppliers, who also gave their statements as witnesses.

The prosecutors leading the probe said they have notified Wang Cheng-hai, owner of the gas station, and his wife to report to the prosecutors office.

The couple will be hunted down if they fail to show up today to help with the investigation.

Five executives of the state-run CPC Corp., Taiwan (CPC), including its chairman and president, were penalized with demerits for lax supervision of the operations of the gas station that had been selling oil products supplied by CPC for many years.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is expected to announce the punishments for officials at its Energy Bureau soon, which is responsible for charting and enforcing the nation’s energy policies.

CPC offered to provide consumers with compensation for damages to their vehicles or motorcycles after using the tampered gasoline. The company will then seek compensation from the operator of the franchised gas station.

Cheng Jen-hung, chairman of the Consumers Foundation, expressed dissatisfaction with CPC’s compensation plan.

CPC will take responsibility for customers who can present invoices for getting refueling at the gas station during the period of Sept. 10 to Nov. 30.

CPC said all complaints and evidences should be presented to the company’s business service center at No. 2 Juguang Road (Tel: 2304-3180) before June 30, 2008, they said.

But Cheng pointed out that many customers may have already lost the invoices.

The prescribed period for purchasing gasoline at the gas station to qualify for compensation should also be reasonably extended depending on the results of the investigation, he said.

Cheng said the probe may prove that the gas station owner have been tampering with the gasoline not for just three months but for years.

He suggested that motorists and motorcyclists who live in communities or work at companies near the gas station should also be eligible for the compensation because it is logical for them to refuel at the gas station nearby.

Unconfirmed reports show that the gas station owner purchased a shipment of 50,000 liters of methyl alcohol and mixed the chemical product with 500,000 liters of unleaded gasoline in September.

This shipment alone could have filled up oil tanks and affected at least 30,000 vehicles.

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