The Taipei District Court yesterday turned down an appeal from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) that former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世), who was released on NT$50 million (US$1.7 million) bail on Thursday, be detained again.
Lin, who had been detained by the Taipei District Court since July 2, was granted bail by the court on Thursday following his indictment on corruption-related charges. Lin’s family posted bail on Friday and Lin was freed.
SID prosecutors immediately filed an appeal on Thursday with the district court, requesting that Lin continue to be detained on the grounds that there is precedent of politicians or white-collar criminals fleeing before or during their trials and Lin might be the next one.
SID prosecutors also claimed Lin might conspire with others on their legal statements if he was able to contact to them.
The court turned down the appeal yesterday afternoon, saying it had ordered Lin to report to a police station close to his residence in Taipei between 7pm and 9pm every day, which the court believes is an effective way of preventing him from fleeing.
Lin’s case came to light on June 27 when a local magazine reported that he helped Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co to secure a slag treatment contract from a subsidiary of China Steel Corp (CSC) in 2010, when he was serving as a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator.
In return, Ti Yung owner Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) gave Lin NT$63 million, the indictment read.
The indictment added that Lin demanded a further NT$83 million from Chen earlier this year after he was appointed Cabinet secretary-general.
When Chen refused to pay up, Lin allegedly pressured CSC, a listed company in which the government has a controlling stake, to stop supplying slag to Ti Yung.
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