Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) was yesterday questioned for a second time in an investigation into alleged corruption in the county government, the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release.
Lin and other unnamed individuals were being questioned as part of a joint investigation with the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, the statement said, without providing further details.
The announcement came hours after media reports said that the commissioner’s son, Lin You-tze (林佑澤), and daughter, Lin Yi-ling (林羿伶), were seen being led away by investigators.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, Lin Zi-miao was notably absent from a county government meeting, as were numerous other county officials, including Finance and Taxation Bureau Director Lu Tian-lung (盧天龍), Bureau of Agriculture Director Kang Li-ho (康立和) and Department of Transportation Director Huang Chih-liang (黃志良).
Yilan County Government Secretary-General Lin Mao-sheng (林茂盛) said that the commissioner had to attend to unexpected business of an undislosed nature.
Prosecutors on Jan. 13 named Lin Zi-miao as a suspect in a corruption case after searching her home and questioning about 30 people, including the commissioner.
The probe revolves around value-added tax exemptions granted in 2019 for a property in Luodong Township (羅東) and changes the following year to the township’s urban development plans.
Later on Jan. 13, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said in a news release that prosecutors had twice searched Lin Zi-miao’s home without uncovering evidence, which breached the principle of proportionality and the rule of law.
The searches negatively affected the county government’s operations and sapped the morale of civil servants working hard to promote the interests of Yilan’s 450,000 residents, the KMT added.
Under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the county government has mobilized the Control Yuan, prosecutors and police against the opposition party, it said, adding that law enforcement should not be incorporated into the ruling party’s election machinery.
The DPP should stop meddling in the legal system and render impartial justice to Taiwanese, the KMT added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS