The Pingtung District Court on Wednesday sentenced Pingtung Mayor Lin Ya-chun and her husband, Chen Chun-liang (陳俊良), to 16 years in prison for siphoning off close to NT$10 million (US$330,839 at the current exchange rate) in government funds.
Pingtung government officials yesterday said the heavy sentence Lin received would lead to her suspension and removal from office and that they would soon appoint a caretaker to serve the remainder of her term, until next year’s municipal elections.
Lin won the Pingtung mayoral post for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the nine-in-one elections in 2014.
Screen grab from Lin Ya-chun’s Facebook account
Her husband has served as deputy director of the KMT’s Pingtung County Chapter and has run unsuccessfully for local representative seats.
During Lin’s term as a Pingtung City councilor from 2006 to 2013, she and her husband set up five non-profit organizations, ranging from charity services for women and children, and promoting cultural arts and education, to talent training for disadvantaged people, the court ruling said.
Documents seized by investigators showed that Chen was listed as secretary-general of all five organizations, while Lin used her influence as a city councilor to apply for government subsidies, the court said.
Through their five registered organizations, Lin and Chen filed more than 200 funding requests, applying for subsidies to cover computer equipment, office items and projects, and received a total of NT$9.59 million from the local government during Lin’s term as councilor, the ruling said.
Investigators believed the organizations were merely used as a front to siphon government subsidies, as they never held membership meetings, falsifying meeting records and financial accounts to pretend they were operating normally.
They found that government funds were misappropriated to purchase computers, air conditioners, a water filter system, golf clubs, household appliances and other items, many of which were found at the couple’s residence.
In her defense, Lin claimed she was not involved in the organizations and did not know how the money was used.
This is the first ruling in this case. The verdict can be appealed.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
IN FULL SWING: Recall drives against lawmakers in Hualien, Taoyuan and Hsinchu have reached the second-stage threshold, the campaigners said Campaigners in a recall petition against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) in Taichung yesterday said their signature target is within sight, and that they need a big push to collect about 500 more signatures from locals to reach the second-stage threshold. Recall campaigns against KMT lawmakers Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) are also close to the 10 percent threshold, and campaigners are mounting a final push this week. They need about 800 signatures against Chiang and about 2,000 against Yang. Campaigners seeking to recall Lo said they had reached the threshold figure over the
RSS