A former vice minister of education implicated in the financial scandal surrounding the Jin-Wen Institute of Technology says he's not guilty of any wrongdoing.
Lin Chao-hsien (林昭賢) said yesterday that he neither received bribes nor benefitted materially from the education ministry's oversight of Jin-Wen.
In addition, Lin said his purchase of an NT$16 million luxury home was not connected to the education ministry's decision to allow Jin-Wen to increase its class size and set up an affiliated junior high school.
"How can my purchase of the house be related to the Jin-Wen issue?" Lin said. "The house was purchased two years before Jin-Wen [applied to have its class size increased]."
Lin bought his home in 1990. The application to increase Jin-Wen's class size was submitted in 1992 and was approved in 1994.
At a press conference yesterday, Lin said prosecutors indicted him without a full investigation.
He said prosecutors were acting like a "political butcher who kills a chicken to frighten a monkey," using Lin's prosecution as a warning to others.
The former official said the Jin-Win indictments represented the DPP government's attempt to use its political power to influence the work of civil employees.
Lin also noted yesterday that there has been an ongoing conflict between himself and Vice Minister of Education Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠).
Earlier this year, Lin was forced to step down from his post as vice education minister after a high-profile spat with Fan, who accused him of wrongdoing in the Jin-Win case.
Lin suggested yesterday that his indictment was connected to his fight with Fan. "This [indictment] is political persecution," he said.
Taipei prosecutors on Tuesday asked that Lin be given life in prison for his decision to allow Jin-Wen to increase its class size and set up an affiliated junior high school. Lin gave his imprimatur, yet Jin-Win lacked sufficient land to qualify for the expansions.
Lin said yesterday that he gave his approval in accordance with the law. The former government official noted that many schools in Taipei -- despite the common problem of having insufficient land -- have increased class sizes.
"So, if it's illegal for Jin-Wen to increase its class size, then does it mean that all those schools need to be taken to court, too?" Lin said.
Jin-Wen Group Chairman Chang Wan-li (張萬利) has been accused of embezzling more than NT$200 million from the school before fleeing abroad last July.
Prosecutors are also looking into whether any of the money went toward the purchase of Lin's home, which was built by a construction firm owned by Chang.
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