TAIPEI - A RETIRED high-ranking army official has been impeached in a bribery scandal that has tarnished the image of Taiwan's military, officials said on Friday.

Lieutenant-general Yuan Hsiao-lung, former deputy chief of Logistics Command, allegedly accepted a 5.0 million Taiwan dollar (S$218,214) bribe from a businessman, according to a report by government watchdog the Control Yuan.

In return, Yuan offered to help the businessman, Lin Chih-chung, secure construction contracts from the military.

The report said Yuan sought promotion by bribing his superiors using the money gained from Lin.

However, Yuan retired in 2008 without being promoted, the report said.

The impeachment case will be sent to the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries, which will decide on his penalty, officials said.

Prosecutors in April indicted Yuan on charges of bribery and blackmail, and sought a 22-year jail term for him in one of the island's biggest military scandals.

Eleven others were also indicted in the same case for illegally winning military contracts after bribing officers with cash and prostitutes to obtain inside information on the tenders.

The case revived claims that some military officers gained promotion to the rank of General through bribery during the eight-year rule of the Democratic Progressive Party, which ended in May last year.

The defence ministry in April formed a task group to investigate the corruption scandal and pledged to bring the implicated servicemen to trial within three months. -- AFP