Two officials from Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan have been jailed for allegedly faking the port's 2007 container throughput in a bid to reach a lucrative government target.
The report in the Taipei Times says prosecutors had originally sought to detain five people, including two staff from Kaohsiung Port, two from Yangming Marine and one from APL.
The implicated port employees and shipping firm staff allegedly received NT$2 billion (US$62 million) in bonuses, incentives and tax exemptions for reaching Kaohsiung Port's 10 million TEU target set for last year.
Prosecutors ordered two officials jailed after questioning more than 50 workers at Kaohsiung Port and shipping companies in connection with a statistics scam, said the newspaper.
Authorities have searched the offices of port and shipping companies, seizing computers and five boxes of documents.
"We have yet to determine how much money they may have received through the fake annual TEU report," said district prosecutors. "Our investigation and raids are still ongoing."
Among those questioned was Kaohsiung Harbour bureau director Hsieh Ming-hui, who was released.
Authorities first became suspicious about the container volume in October and prosecutors were tipped off that the numbers were faked in January. The Ministry of Transport said Kaohsiung port volume at 10.2 million TEU last year, an increase of 4.93 per cent.
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