TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – A former airport company official was indicted for leaking confidential information about an engineering project at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 3, reports said Saturday.

Lin Wen-chen (林文楨), 63, served first as deputy and later as the head of the engineering department at Taoyuan International Airport Corporation. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office charged him as a public official disclosing of information of a secret nature relating to matters other than national defense, per CNA.

From 2013, Lin was involved in the planning and execution of engineering projects at Taiwan’s main gateway. He also had the authority to conduct and supervise related purchases.

The investigation into Lin’s actions originated with a tender in 2019 for public facilities at Terminal 3. The amount for the contract was raised from NT$6.24 billion (US$196.28 million) to NT$6.29 billion, but the project still did not attract the required minimum of three valid bidders.

As a result, the company launched a second tender. Even though Lin knew clearly that related information could not be made public before the tender was published, he obtained confidential documents, including budget details, from an unknowing official and handed them over to a businessperson advising one of the bidders, prosecutors said.

The bidder was not aware that the information he received from his adviser was illegally obtained. However, because investigators were unable to prove a direct connection between Lin’s actions and the winning of the bid, Lin was not charged with corruption.