Former Nantou County commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) faces additional graft charges after having been found to have NT$12.82 million (US$390,830) in his personal bank account, some of which prosecutors suspect was kickback money from businesses engaged in public construction projects and procurement tenders administered by the county government.
Lee, a member of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), had been earlier found guilty of corruption for alleged kickbacks and bid-rigging when he headed up the Nantou County Government, and was given a 30-year prison term by the Nantou District Court in September.
Lee yesterday said he is innocent of the charges, and that the money was revenue from a pharmaceutical company owned and operated by his wife, Chien Su-tuan (簡素端).
“After I was elected to the county commissioner’s office, from then on, I had nothing to do with the business operation and management of the pharmaceutical company,” he said.
However, prosecutors said that Lee was the actual owner and operator of the company, while his wife’s name was used only for business registration purposes, citing evidence from the company account ledgers of capital flow and financial transactions.
According to prosecutors, the pharmaceutical company allegedly transferred a total of NT$12.82 million to Lee’s personal account from January 2011 to November 2012.
After deducting the company’s income and sales, there remains NT$8.6 million in total from unknown sources, and prosecutors allege it was illegal income, most likely from receiving kickbacks from businesses involved in procurement and construction projects with the Nantou County Government.
Prosecutors charged Lee with contravening laws against public servants holding property or assets of unknown origin.
In the September conviction, Lee’s brother-in-law, Chien Jui-chi (簡瑞祺), was also found guilty of distributing illicit funds and given a 22-year prison term.
According to the court ruling in September, Lee was found to have received at least NT$31.73 million from contractors and business companies in bribes and kickbacks related to 111 projects, involving road construction, bridge repair and county government-initiated public infrastructure construction and upgrade works throughout Nantou County.
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