Sat, Feb 20, 2016 page3

• Embezzlement suspects released on NT$12m bail

  SYSTEMIC PROBLEM: The issue of embezzlement of school assets is not isolated and more needs to be done to regulate private school boards, a union president said

  • By Sean Lin / Staff reporter
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  Prosecutors yesterday released five board members of New Taipei City’s Chi Jen High School on bail in an investigation into allegations that they had pocketed school assets totaling NT$267 million (US$7.95 million).

  Board director Sheng Tien-lin (盛天麟) and his brother Sheng Ping-lin (盛平麟) were bailed on NT$3 million each, while three other board members were released on bail of NT$2 million each, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.

  The five main suspects allegedly embezzled tuition fees paid for after-school classes and uniform fees.

  It is alleged that from 2006 to 2014 the board members distributed the money among themselves and three other suspects who are based overseas, prosecutors said.

  The suspects were also accused of contracting a company to oversee and pay for the building of a centralized kitchen on campus while telling school administrators that the board would use NT$6 million in school funds for the construction, only to pocket the money after the project was approved, prosecutors said.

  Since 2013, the accused had been charging a student lunch provider kickbacks of NT$10 per lunchbox sold, prosecutors said, adding that the company complied out of fear of losing business from the school that had more than 1,000 students.

  Prosecutors on Thursday raided 12 locations, including the suspects’ offices and homes, and confiscated ledgers and cash totaling more than NT$40 million for investigation.

  The National Federation of Teachers’ Unions yesterday said the scandal had dealt a blow to the reputation of private schools and called on the Ministry of Education and affiliated agencies to improve their control over private schools.

  Union president Chang Hsu-cheng (張旭政) said that the allegations against the board members of the high school was not an isolated case and embezzlement of school assets has been rampant among private institutes.

  Private school board of directors often operate as “family businesses,” which has allowed them to avoid scrutiny and that although it is the ministry’s duty to supervise private schools, it had not made enough efforts to do so, Chang said.

  He said that the union had been advocating for legislation that would mandate private schools to hire objective board members and supervisors from third-parties to safeguard school finances, but since certain legislators had persistently opposed the proposal, the effort had been unsuccessful.

  He said that with the new legislative session having started yesterday, lawmakers should push through necessary amendments to ensure the normal operation of boards of directors at private institutes.

  Even though the ministry is responsible for enforcing the Private School Act (私立學校法), the ministry’s K-12 Education Administration said that as Chi Jen’s administration had not founded other schools outside New Taipei City, it is the duty of the city’s Department of Education to oversee the school.

  As of press time, the agency did not give comment on what measures it had taken in the past to manage boards of directors at private schools and what it plans to do to prevent a similar scandals.

  The school authority said it would cooperate with investigations and that it would do its utmost to prevent the schools’ operations from being affected.
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