A lawyer retained by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) brother yesterday denied media allegations that the Tsai family could face potentially costly fines over the burial plot of Tsai’s father, Tsai Chie-sheng (蔡潔生).
A report published by the Chinese-language China Times yesterday quoted unnamed Taipei County officials as saying that the fine would be around NT$6 million (US$190,000), a new record for violations under the Funeral Administration Act (殯葬法).
The allegation was denied by lawyer Lien Yuan-lung (連元龍), who said in a statement issued yesterday that the act stated fines would only be handed out if the violations were not corrected to conform to accepted standards within a set time frame.
The burial site of Tsai Chie-sheng in Sindian City (新店), Taipei County, was found by investigators last month to cover an estimated 3,298m2, 412 times larger than regulation limits.
The Funeral Administration Act limits burial sites to 26.47m2. Under the law, violators have six months to alter sites to conform to the regulations or face fines of NT$60,000 for every 26.47m2 over the legal limit.
While some initial media reports said the oversized burial site could end up costing the Tsai family up to NT$25 million, the China Times report yesterday said that the unnamed county official came to the figure of NT$6 million after subtracting a number of public facilities including the burial site courtyard.
Lien said yesterday that he had not yet received official documentation from the county government describing the violations. However, he stressed that the Tsai family would cooperate with officials and ensure that the burial site was altered to conform with regulations.
Commenting on the case, DPP Spokesman Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said Tsai Ing-wen was not actively involved with the case and it would be handled by her brother and their attorney.
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