The Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday filed corruption charges against three local officials and four residents of Hengchun Township (恆春) for allegedly forging documents to pocket government funds intended as subsidy money for farmers related to losses incurred due to typhoon damage.
The indictment was made against former Hengchun chief secretary Lin Cheng-hsiung (林正雄), former Hengchun mayor Tai Hung-lin (戴宏林) and a former local borough official Lu Yu-ting (盧囿庭).
Prosecutors said Lin, Tai and Lu are suspected of using forged documents to pocket NT$580,000 in government subsidies intended as compensation for farmers in the aftermath of Typhoon Sepat in 2007, and were charged according to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Prosecutors said Lin initiated the corruption scheme and that he was a former director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Hengchun office.
Officials said Lin was experiencing financial difficulties and, unable to repay loans he received from the Farmers Co-operative Association in Hengchun, had borrowed money from Tai.
At that time, the central government was offering compensation to local farmers for agricultural damage caused by Typhoon Sepat and Tai promised to assist Lin financially by helping to apply for compensation, officials said.
Prosecutors said that Lin, in collusion with Tai and others, forged an official chop of then-Hengchun Township mayor Yeh Ming-shun (葉明順), to disburse funds totaling NT580,000 to five local residents, including Tai.
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