Miaoli County commissioner indicted

Miaoli County Commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬) was indicted yesterday under charges of misappropriating public funds while he was deputy speaker of the county council.

Former county councilors Luo Hsing-chun (羅幸春) and Hsieh Ching-chuan (謝清泉), as well as the owner of a travel agency were also indicted for issuing fraudulent receipts to cover the misappropriation.

Lin Pang-liang (林邦梁), chief prosecutor at the Miaoli District Prosecutors' Office, said Fu and the two councilors were indicted for making unauthorized pleasure trips to China in 1993 and acquiring NT$390,000 from government funds in the name of "fact-finding trips" to Hong Kong and Japan.

Fu faces a minimum of seven years in prison and a fine of NT$60 million. The late county councilor Hsu Chih-chin (徐織錦) was also implicated but not charged.

Fu has denied any knowledge of the misdeed, saying that the trip was arranged entirely by the travel agency and he did not sign any application for the travel expenses.