Taiwanese prosecutors have intensified an investigation into alleged large-scale budget inflation at state-owned CPC Corp.’s third liquefied natural gas receiving terminal, launching a fourth round of coordinated searches targeting construction contractor Royal Chang Construction Co. and related parties. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office ordered investigators from the Agency Against Corruption and the Investigation Bureau to fan out across 27 locations, summoning 14 people for questioning in connection with the Guantang LNG terminal’s offshore breakwater works.

The probe centers on claims that the budget for the Guantang terminal’s "outer extension" breakwater project was repeatedly marked up in a short period. According to an anonymous complaint backed by a key audio recording cited in multiple reports, the original estimate of about NT$94 billion ($2.9 billion) rose through at least four rounds of increases to a final contract value of NT$253 billion. The recording is said to suggest that the price escalation was driven from the CPC side, with a specified construction firm ultimately winning the contract under a "most advantageous tender" mechanism.

Prosecutors began looking into the case last year after receiving the anonymous submission. To secure documents and electronic records, they carried out three search operations between December and early January that covered CPC, engineering consultant CECI Engineering Consultants’ Taiwan unit, and residences and offices of individuals linked to the project, seizing materials from a total of 11 sites and bringing in former CECI chairman Shih Yi-fang and others for questioning. All those questioned in those rounds, as well as the 14 individuals brought in following the latest searches, were released after questioning as the investigation continues.

The scale and pace of the inquiry has drawn political scrutiny. Opposition lawmaker Lo Chih-chiang has criticized what he describes as slow progress in moving from initial complaints, which he says date back to 2022, to raids on the winning contractor, questioning why the latest search of Royal Chang came months after earlier actions against CPC and consultants. Lo has also highlighted CPC’s high leverage and reliance on state-backed financing as reasons for closer oversight of major capital spending. The Ministry of Economic Affairs said it had already conducted an administrative probe at the request of the Legislative Yuan and forwarded its findings to prosecutors in January, while CPC has pledged to keep cooperating with judicial authorities in an effort to clarify the facts.