Taipei District prosecutors yesterday charged a former secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with cheating the ministry out of NT$1.68 million (US$53,000) in excess reimbursement for rent expenses.
The secretary, surnamed Lee (李), was working at the embassy in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, from 2003 until earlier this year. During the six years Lee was there, he allegedly filed applications for reimbursement of his rent that was in excess of the actual expenses.
Prosecutors said that according to their investigation, Lee negotiated with his landlord to forge receipts indicating that the rent was increased at various times during his stay. While the actual rental amount paid to the landlord was A$1,000 each month, the forged receipts indicated amounts of A$1,700, A$1,900, A$1,960, A$2,010 and A$2,100.
Lee admitted to the charges against him and said he regretted what he had done. Prosecutors said that they believed there was little chance of Lee committing fraud again because he had shown remorse for his crimes by writing a letter of apology to the prosecutor and because he has no prior criminal record.
Prosecutors said that since Lee was unlikely to reoffend and had returned the amount he defrauded to the ministry, they had issued him with a deferred indictment. This means prosecution will be deferred and eventually dismissed if Lee does not reoffend in the future.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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