The Taoyuan District Court yesterday withdrew the case against Taiwan Civilian Government (TCG) secretary-general Roger Lin (林志昇), who died on Wednesday after an accidental fall, but said that prosecution of other TCG officials for fraud would proceed.
Lin was a cofounder of TCG, a controversial organization that offered “citizenship cards” that Lin said were authorized by the “US military government” and entitled holders to travel to or reside in the US.
Family members said that Lin, 70, fell unconscious after a fall in his home in Taoyuan on Saturday last week. He was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment and put on life support.
Photo: Chou Min-hung, Taipei Times
As he showed no signs of recovering, the family took him home on Tuesday and he died on Wednesday night.
After receiving notice of his death, a Taoyuan prosecutor and a coroner went to his home and examined the body to determine that no foul play was involved.
Prosecutors said they had to verify Lin’s cause of death, which a hospital report attributed to a brain hemorrhage. The coroner has not yet released a report on the cause of death.
Following the identity verification, the district court said it would not proceed with the case in accordance with Article 303 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), which states that the court would not “entertain” a case if the accused is dead.
More than 300 people have filed complaints of fraud against Lin, his wife, Julian Lin (林梓安), and other TCG executives, saying that the citizenship cards TCG issued were worthless and not recognized by the US government.
Roger Lin, his wife and four top executives were indicted in May on charges of aggravated fraud, profiting on false pretenses, money laundering, operating a criminal organization and illegal fundraising among others.
Prosecution of the charges again Julian Lin and the four executives are to continue, the court said.
Prosecutors said that TCG “operated like a political Ponzi scheme” and estimated that Roger Lin and the other accused had made more than NT$1 billion (US$32.9 million) since the organization was founded in 2008.
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