Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) was accused of giving illegal favors — such as exempting some property and construction firms from land taxes — in exchange for use of land to conduct activities linked to the 2020 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential and legislative election campaigns.
She also allegedly exempted some properties from building code contraventions that would have required the demolition of illegal structures. She was charged with corruption and — after a trial at the Yilan District Court — found guilty and sentenced to 12 years and six months along with a six-year deprivation of her civil rights.
Lin was suspended from her post in accordance with the Local Government Act (地方制度法), making her the second head of a local government to be suspended following Hsinchu Mayor Anne Kao (高虹安) last year.
The nature of Lin’s crimes and sentencing is particularly unfortunate considering Yilan’s legacy as a beacon of democracy and “clean governance,” championed by former county commissioner and minister of justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南).
The judge determined that Lin failed to fulfill her duties as an elected local leader and — based on personal relationships — directed her subordinates to undermine the impartiality of civil servants when performing their duties, eroding the credibility of elected officials. As a result, her sentence was lengthened in accordance with the law.
Lin said she was the victim of political persecution and said that the judicial system had been hijacked.
However, Lin has yet to explain the nearly NT$80 million (US$2.43 million) in unexplained funds in an account in her name. How can she expect to earn the trust of Yilan County residents?
KMT Legislator Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), who intends to run for Yilan County Commissioner next year, said that the Ministry of the Interior’s decision to suspend Lin based on a first-trial conviction over unexplained income was political manipulation.
Unexplained income is not on the same level as benefiting from corruption, for which suspension is only mandated after a second-trial conviction, Wu said.
If they had to wait until the second trial to suspend her on the more severe crime of corruption, why can she be suspended upon a first-instance conviction for unexplained income? he asked.
The seeming disparity is because an elected official possessing an “unaccounted-for increase of property or income” was not declared a crime under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) until 2009, while the Local Government Act — which calls for the suspension of local government heads who have contravened the Anti-Corruption Act — was established in 1999, a decade before the addition of the unexplained increases in property or income clauses were added.
So the seemingly unusual situation of Lin being suspended for a conviction for a lesser crime when she would not have been for a more serious conviction is in accordance with the law. It was not a partisan decision, nor was it political manipulation.
Lin sacrificed Yilan’s longstanding values of integrity and clean governance — the pride of the county’s residents — in exchange for her own interests. She also impaired the operational effectiveness of the Yilan County Government, casting a shadow of corruption over the county.
Lin has shattered the system by being Yilan County’s first commissioner to be suspended for corruption. She should admit wrongdoing, acknowledge her suspension and apologize to Yilan’s residents.
Dino Wei works in the information technology industry.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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