RSS Feed
February 11th, 2016 
Awake Goy 
nsnbc : Taiwanese prosecutors summoned Lin Ming-hui, the developer of the 17-story high-rise that collapsed during an earthquake on Saturday. Search and rescue workers discovered that cooking-oil cans had been used as construction material. 41 have been confirmed dead while an estimated 100 are still missing with little to no chance for recovering them alive. Over 500 were injured during the quake.
Prosecutors summoned Lin Ming-hui for questioning and are seeking his arrest. The prosecutors want to investigate whether the property developer and two associates “have cut corners” during the construction of the Weiguan Jinlong Building (Wei Guan Golden Dragon Building) in Tainan that collapsed during Saturday’s magnitude 6.4 earthquake.
The Tainan District Court elected reportedly to summon and try to detain Lin Ming-hui after mounting pressure from media and reporters last night. Images taken Sunday morning revealed that cooking-oil cans had been embedded in the concrete walls and columns of the building. Building collapses during an earthquake in 1999 were linked to the same practice.
More than 200 people have been recovered from the building so far, but the death toll is likely to increase. About 100 have still not been accounted for. Taiwanese media including the Taipai Times suggest that Lin, who served as board chairman of the now-defunct contractor Weiguan Construction Co, had declared bankruptcy and changed his name several times.
The construction permit for the Weiguan Jinlong complex was according to government records issued in 1992. The building was completed in 1994. In 1999, the same year that several buildings with cooking-oil cans collapsed during an earthquake, Weiguan Construction applied to temporarily cease operations and its business registration was canceled in 2013. Aside from the Weiguan Jinlong complex, the firm had constructed two other major complexes in Yongkang.
Prosecutors and police have not made much information available to the press but don’t deny that an investigation has been launched to determine whether human factors played a role in the collapse of the complex. Besides being weakened by the use of cooking-oil-cans in load-bearing elements of the construction, the concrete may, according to some reports, have been further weakened by “Tofu dregs”. That is the mash of insoluble pulp left behind after pureed soybeans are filtered to make tofu.
Lin Ming-hui, along with two company officials, surnamed Chang and Cheng, have reportedly turned themselves in Monday night, after being summoned by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office. The three are expected to answer questions of whether they were guilty of professional negligence leading to death or other criminal responsibility. The prosecutors’ office has demanded the detention of all three suspects.
Families and loved ones of the estimated 100 who are believed to be buried under the rubble of the collapsed high-rise are growing increasingly concerned as hopes to find survivors are fading. Families and loved ones complained about the “slow progress” in rescue and recovery operations as the important and vital 72 hours window closed. The confirmed death toll as of Monday evening was 41.
PM Simon Chang promised that the central government of Taiwan would provide legal aid and other forms of assistance to help residents and the City Administration in the case that the building was poorly constructed.
CH/L – nsnbc 10.02.2016
Related article:
Taiwan High-Rise Collapse possibly caused by Cooking-Oil Cans as Construction Material
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/02/10/developer-of-collapsed-high-rise-in-taiwan-summoned-100-still-unaccounted-for/
Posted in 
Tags: 
