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MOJ reports 3,900 cases of corruption since July of 2000

Prosecutors have tackled more than 3,900 corruption cases and recovered more than NT$30.43 billion (US$930 million) in dirty money between July 2000 and this August, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday.

"As many as 10,518 individuals were prosecuted in these 3,900-odd cases. Of these, 2,286 have been found guilty of corruption, which accounted for a 57.2 percent conviction rate," the ministry said in a release yesterday.

The ministry said that from July 2000 to this August, prosecutors on average indicted 46 cases and prosecuted 122 individuals for corruption each month.

According to the ministry's statistics, those prosecuted include 605 middle and high-ranking government officials, 613 elected officials, 4,922 civil servants and 4,378 citizens.

Middle and high-ranking officials and elected officials accounted for 11.58 percent of prosecutions, the release said.

The Black Gold Investigation Center under the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office was founded in June 2000 to be in charge of investigating serious corruption and white-collar crimes.

It has since prosecuted a number of high-ranking government officials and business people, including the first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on suspicion of embezzlement of the state affairs fund and special allowance funds.

The Black Gold Investigation Center was later dismantled as the nation established the Special Investigation Panel under the Supreme Prosecutors' Office earlier this January.

Last month, special prosecutors indicted Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and National Security Council Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) on suspicion of misusing their special allowance funds.
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