Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) was released on NT$1 million (US$30,539) bail by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday amid a corruption investigation.
Lin is restricted from leaving the country, taking boat trips and required to live at her residence or a designated location, the prosecutors office said.
Prosecutors on Thursday searched Lin’s legislative and local offices, as well as a temple in her constituency in Kaohsiung, amid two investigations, one over allegations that she filed fraudulent claims for assistants’ salaries.
Photo: Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
The searches were carried out simultaneously by prosecutors in Taipei and Kaohsiung.
Lin also faces a probe over an alleged abuse of power by engaging in activities that constitute a conflict of interest relating to her position as a public servant.
In 2020 Lin took a senior position on the board of the temple and allegedly exploited her image as a public figure to seek sponsorship from about 20 firms in Linyuan Industrial Park (林園工業區) in the city’s Siaogang District (小港).
She allegedly sought sponsors to help organize public events for the temple, which prosecutors said is a legal “gray area.”
Lin has denied all wrongdoing, saying that the accusations are from unsubstantiated and biased reports.
Prosecutors questioned an unidentified member of the temple.
The temple member was released on NT$1 million bail for suspected contraventions of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), while Lin’s younger sister was released on NT$300,000 bail in the same case early yesterday morning.
Prosecutors have also requested court approval to detain Lin’s younger brother and two members of her local office in connection with the temple case.
On leaving the prosecutors’ office at 7am yesterday, Lin told reporters that she is being targeted by “dark forces who chose to attack me at this time.”
Lin said that she has lawfully served Kaohsiung for the past 24 years, adding that she will fight to defend her innocence.
Lin, 52, served in the legislature from 2002 to 2008 before being elected again in 2011. She has been in office since then and has announced her intention to enter the DPP primaries for the 2026 Kaohsiung mayoral election.
Polls conducted by Chinese-language media, including TVBS News and Credere Media, have shown her in the lead among other aspirants from the DPP camp.
In a statement on Thursday, Lin’s constituency office denied any wrongdoing, saying that the lawmaker has always followed the law.
She will wait for the legal process to play out and prove her innocence, it added.
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