The Control Yuan on Tuesday voted 12-1 to impeach Nantou District prosecutor Lin Tien-lin (林天麟) amid allegations of bribery and for carrying on an extramarital affair.
The impeachment motion, initiated by Control Yuan members Liu Yu-shan (劉玉山) and Tu Shan-liang, (杜善良) has been referred to the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission for deliberation.
Based on their investigation, the two Control Yuan members said Lin had broken several regulations, such as the Civil Servants Work Act (公務員服務法) and the Prosecutors Code (檢察官守則).
They accused him of conspiring with former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Ho Chih-hui (何智輝), who was charged with multiple cases of corruption by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office in 2007 and 2008.
They also accused Lin of having an extramarital affair and said his conduct had “severely tarnished the image of prosecutors.”
Lin may be discharged from his post — the severest form of punishment in cases like this, the government watchdog members said.
They alleged that Ho had asked former Taiwan High Court judge Tsai Kuang-chih (蔡光治) to ask Lin to intervene and lobby prosecutors in a bid to dodge a judicial investigation.
The pair said Lin had agreed to the request and colluded with Tsai, who lived nearby, using the code “taking out the garbage” to meet and exchange information on the judicial probe.
Lin’s action came to light during a clean-up campaign launched by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) to rid the nation of corrupt judges, the two Control Yuan members said.
They said that evidence collected by the SID and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office showed that Lin, Tsai and Ho had met 10 times at Cosmos Hotel in Taipei.
They said that although Lin had made several attempts to lobby the prosecution, the “upright character” of the prosecutor in charge of the investigation deterred Lin from making actual contact.
Ho’s attempts to bribe a number of judges broke out in July 2010 and came under media spotlight.
When questioned about Ho, Lin claimed to have little knowledge of Ho’s involvement in multiple bribery cases, despite the wide media coverage it received, the Control Yuan members said.
The Control Yuan posted the impeachment motion on its Web site on Tuesday morning, instead of holding a press conference.
Asked about public concern over the way it released the information, Liu said the Control Yuan did not hold a press conference on the impeachment motion because her schedule was full.
Translated by Stacy Hsu, Staff writer
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