The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) yesterday conducted another round of questioning of former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) in a bid to learn the whereabouts of the money he allegedly accepted as bribes.
Lin was sent back to the Taipei Detention Center in New Taipei City (新北市) after being questioned for 11 hours.
Lin’s mother, Shen Juo-lan (沈若蘭), on Wednesday voluntarily turned in to the SID NT$18 million (US$603,000) that she claimed she received from Lin. Shen was listed as a defendant and was released on NT$2 million bail later that day.
Photo: Taipei Times
According to the SID, the NT$18 million in bills were wet and some of them were hard to identify because Shen had allegedly stuffed them into plastic bags and thrown them into a pool in her backyard before investigators raided Lin’s residence in Fongshan District (鳳山) on Sunday.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday reported that prosecutors searched Lin’s residence and office in Fongshan for a second time on Thursday, and they seized a furnace and ashes because Shen reportedly said she burned some US dollar bills in the furnace before prosecutors arrived.
The newspaper also claimed that Shen flushed more US dollar bills down the toilets, adding that investigators might have to dig up her home’s septic tank in an effort to find remains of the money.
When asked for confirmation of the report, SID spokesman John Chang (張進豐) said it was not true that the investigators would open up the septic tank, but when pressed on whether Shen had burned US dollar bills or flushed them down toilets, he declined to comment.
Lin’s wife, Peng Ai-chia (彭愛佳), on Thursday was named a defendant in the case and was released on NT$1 million bail.
The SID has charged Peng and Shen with violation of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), the Money Laundering Prevention Act (洗錢防制法) and concealment of evidence.
The corruption scandal erupted after Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥), head of Ti Yung Co (地勇選礦公司), accused Lin of accepting bribes from him. Lin has confessed to having accepted NT$63 million in bribes from Chen to help him secure a contract with China Steel Corp (中鋼).
Additional reporting by staff writer and CNA
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