Prosecutors yesterday summoned former Presidential Office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓) for questioning on suspicion of perjury — an accusation that Lin denied.
Taipei District Court judges asked prosecutors in September to look into whether Lin had committed perjury.
The court convicted Lin and former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), both of whom were aides to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), of helping the former first couple embezzle money. They were sentenced to 16 years and 20 years respectively and stripped of their civil rights for eight years and 10 years respectively.
The former aide is suspected of asking the former first family’s bookkeeper, Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧), and a friend of former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) to lie to prosecutors about details related to the presidential “state affairs fund.”
Prosecutors said they found contradictions when they tried to corroborate statements from the witnesses. However, Lin denied the accusations during questioning yesterday.
Lin and Ma were among the codefendants in the former president’s trial who received the heaviest sentences because, the court said, they committed their crimes as civil servants and refuse to confess to their crimes.
Taipei District prosecutors said they may soon question the former president at Taipei Detention Center, where he is being detained, on suspicions that he participated in coordinating perjury among witnesses.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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