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Updated Wednesday, September 8, 2010 10:56 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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5 defendants in Xinsheng probe named

The projects included enhancing the structure of the expressway, giving new surface pavement with asphalt, adding traffic safety, and installing flowers and automatic watering systems.

According to a preliminary probe by a team headed by Hau, officials invited bidders Nov. 6, 2007 for the elevated expressway work, but were unable to find a qualified contractor capable of carrying out the project at the budget set by the city government.

The city government finally farmed out the projects April 23, 2008, after raising price tag to NT$1.32 billion in the wake of six unsuccessful bids.

City councilors of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) claimed last month that the constructors who won the contract were fleecing the city government with inflated prices for flowers they planted under the highway.

They said prosecutors should also include Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin in the investigation.

In response, prosecutors said they will expand the probe if new evidences showing other people were also involved.

The mayor, who is facing a serious challenge from a DPP candidate in his bid for a second term in the year-end election, referred the officials in charge of the projects to prosecutors for investigation after news of the allegations took a heavy toll on his approval rating.

Hau said yesterday that his election campaign was turning a corner and he expressed confidence that his popularity will improve in the run-up to the election as long as he does not make any mistakes at City Hall and ensures that the 2010 Taipei International Flora Expo is staged well during the remainder of his term.

The expo is scheduled to open Nov. 6 and will run through April 25, 2011.

He denied that he was trying to turn the officials into scapegoats by subjecting them to judicial investigation, saying that only the prosecutors can conduct a fair probe of the case and get to the bottom of the matter if there were irregularities involved.

Otherwise the defendants should be cleared if they did nothing wrong, Hau added.

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