New Taipei City Councilor Lin Ming-jen (林銘仁) of the Democratic Progressive Party was detained and held incommunicado by the New Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office on Friday for allegedly misusing NT$5 million (US$156,436) of public funds through fraudulent payroll deductions.
Lin and his assistant, surnamed Yang (楊), allegedly conducted the unlawful activity between 2009 and 2016, when Lin served as then-Taipei County councilor and later New Taipei City councilor, the court said.
Lin was detained, while Yang was released on NT$100,000 bail and forbidden from leaving Taiwan or changing her residence, the court said.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
On Thursday, prosecutors launched searches of Lin’s residence and offices in New Taipei City’s Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林) districts and Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), taking away potential evidence including notebooks and account books, the court said.
Prosecutors later interviewed seven suspects including Lin, as well as three witnesses on the same day.
After overnight questioning, five of the suspects were released on NT$30,000 bail each while prosecutors requested the formal detention of Lin and Yang over allegedly contravening Article 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and Article 214 of the Criminal Code.
The New Taipei District Court approved the request to detain Lin, but released Yang on bail on Friday afternoon.
The 64-year-old Lin is serving his fifth term as councilor, having been re-elected for four consecutive terms.
Meanwhile, another New Taipei City councilor, Pai Pei-ju (白珮茹) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was released on NT$600,000 bail and forbidden from leaving Taiwan over her alleged involvement in a similar case.
Pai allegedly contravened the Anti-Corruption Act by misusing more than NT$12 million of public funds through payroll fraud between 2009 and this year.
Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office and Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau personnel raided Pai’s offices and residence on Wednesday.
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office released Pai on bail on the same day.
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