Former Taiwan official detained over unexplained gold bars

A former official who had unexplained gold bars at home and in an office is being held incommunicado after a ruling by a Taiwan court on Thursday.

The court cited risk of colluding with other suspects and jeopardizing investigations.

Huang Chimin, who served as head of the island's emergency authorities between 2003 and 2009, was detained at the request of the prosecutors who had spent the last three years uncovering his alleged crimes.

Huang currently worked for Formosa Plastics Group, an industrial conglomerate in Taiwan.` The prosecutors said Wednesday that they had found 18 gold bars, which were worth 23 million New Taiwanese Dollars (about 767,000 U.S. dollars), in Huang's possession.

They also found that the former official had large amounts of money, both in local and foreign currencies, and this was simply beyond his salary.

Overnight Wednesday, prosecutors spoke to two dozen people suspected of involvement in Huang's cases, including himself, his wife, his brother-in-law, members of the emergency authorities and executives of suspected companies.

The prosecutors, saying Huang was suspected of handing out government contracts to favored companies and ran the risk of colluding with other suspects, asked the court on Thursday to hold Huang and three other suspects incommunicado.

After a three-hour debate, the court granted permission to hold Huang incommunicado as the prosecutors requested, but allowed the other three suspects to be released on a bail.

Thursday's court ruling marked a major step in the prosecutors' effort to bring Huang down.

Local reports said that over a three-year period a total of 160 investigators from Taipei, Hsinchu, and central and southern districts in Taiwan have searched 41 locations and questioned a number of people believed to be involved in the cases.

Huang had long been a controversial figure in Taiwanese politics. He was known for working hard and being a man who got tough jobs done, but he was also despised by many for pandering to his superiors and being mean to his colleagues.

He was said to be a favorite of Taiwan's former leader Chen Shui-bian, who served between 2000 and 2008 and was from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Chen is in jail for corruption and other crimes uncovered since he stepped down in 2008.