Taiwan Civil Government founder Roger Lin (林志昇) and his wife, Julian Lin (林梓安), were yesterday indicted on additional charges of aggravated fraud and profiting on false pretenses, after 134 more people filed complaints against the couple and other executives of the organization.
Taoyuan prosecutors said that they had uncovered more evidence and took additional testimony from victims, after six top executives, including the Lins, were in July last year indicted on charges relating to money laundering, fraud, operating a criminal organization and illegal fundraising.
The six executives faced charges for allegedly defrauding Taiwan Civil Government members of about NT$770 million (US$24.48 million) by having them pay for political donations, seminars, “citizenship” identification cards and high-level membership fees for nonexistent government positions, among other schemes.
Photo: CNA
Roger Lin led the group, which “operated like a political Ponzi scheme,” prosecutors said, estimating that he and other leaders had made more than NT$1 billion since the organization was founded in 2008.
Roger Lin, 68, and Julian Lin, 52, are the main defendants in both indictments.
Additional charges were also filed against four executives who allegedly worked closely with the Lins: Yu Hsiang-ching (游象敬), 79, who owns the organization’s headquarters in Taoyuan; chief accounting officer Yeh Pi-lien (葉碧蓮), 54; Hsu Yi-ming (許義明), 67, who was named “finance minister” of the Taiwan Civil Government; and Tsai Tsai-yuan (蔡財源), 78, who was named “prime minister.”
Most of the 134 people who registered complaints and gave testimony said that they support the Taiwanese independence movement and agreed with Lin’s ideas.
The alleged victims said that their losses ranged from a few thousand to several million New Taiwan dollars.
Members were told that the “citizenship cards” issued by Roger Lin were authorized by the “US military government” and entitled holders to travel to or reside in the US, prosecutors said.
Roger Lin also claimed that the cards entitled holders to a one-to-one exchange rate between the NT dollar and US dollar; housing, healthcare and pensions paid for by the US government; and free tuition to a US college for their children, prosecutors said.
Taoyuan authorities in May last year raided the headquarters and residences of group executives, where they seized NT$134.43 million, US$50,000 and 2,000 euros (US$2,230 at the current exchange rate) in cash and discovered other assets belonging to Roger Lin, including deeds to four plots of land and four buildings.
After being detained for five months pending trial, the six suspects were in October last year released on bail with restrictions.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS