The Taipei District Court yesterday duly ordered the detention of Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) member Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正), after the Taichung District Court had instructed Taichung prosecutors to refile their request in Taipei.
"Evidence prosecutors submitted to judges showed that Lin and his secretary, Su Jun-ji (蘇俊吉), have acted very suspiciously. There is reason to believe that the pair might conspire if they were able to talk, so the court has decided to detain Lin and Su," Taipei District Court spokesman Liu Shou-sung (劉壽嵩) told the press yesterday.
The official said Su was suspected of accepting bribes on Lin's behalf.
Prosecutors suspect that Lin accepted bribes in return for insider information on the stock market, to which he had access as an FSC member.
Prosecutors were alerted to Lin's suspicious behavior when they investigated separate crimes dating back a year ago.
Among other things, prosecutors suspect that a house in Taipei County that belongs to Lin was a gift from a businessman.
Taipei prosecutors refiled the detention request on behalf of their colleagues in Taichung and the Taipei District Court held a hearing on the matter yesterday morning.
Liu said that Lin's lawyer argued that because his client had already been detained for more than 24 hours, Lin should be released.
However, judges ruled that the detention of Lin and Su was legal.
Lin's resignation, meanwhile, was approved by the Executive Yuan yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) confirmed yesterday evening that Lin would be expelled from the party.
The resolution was made in the DPP's Central Executive Committee meeting yesterday.
The Taipei Society said yesterday that Lin's involvement in corruption was a result of the government's lack of transparency.
Allen Houng (洪裕宏), an executive officer of the society, said that as the governing party, the DPP should reform itself. Lin might not be the only problem figure within the commission, he added.
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