The Tainan District Court has found a Tainan health inspector guilty of applying for overtime pay while working a part-time job near her office.
The official, surnamed Wang (王), worked at a noodle shop 3km from the government building where she was employed, and during 2018 returned to the office on multiple occasions to clock out after finishing work at the noodle shop, the ruling said.
The court sentenced Wang to one year and 10 months in prison, deferred for three years, for abuse of public office.
Separately, the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission demoted Wang and reduced her salary by NT$600 per month.
The matter was anonymously reported to the Agency Against Corruption in August 2018, prosecutors said.
The Tainan Environmental Protection Bureau hired Wang in 2010 and she managed its recycling center in the city’s East District (東區), where she was responsible for collecting and auctioning recycled furniture and other items, and for running public seminars on environmental education, prosecutors said.
Due to the nature of her work, there was no supervisory mechanism to prevent Wang from leaving the center after clocking in, prosecutors said, adding that on her time sheet, she would enter “collecting recycled items” as the reason for overtime.
After the anonymous report, an investigator observed Wang over a 16-day period, and after confirming the behavior proceeded to indict her for corruption — which carries a minimum sentence of seven years in prison.
Wang then attempted to return the NT$8,704 in overtime pay she had received, prosecutors said.
Wang asked the judge for a lighter sentence, saying that she had been trying to help the shop owner, who was an old friend who had suddenly become ill and could no longer run the business, prosecutors said.
She also told the judge that she knew her actions were wrong and she was normally a diligent worker, but had gotten off track, they said.
Citing Wang’s past record, her responsibilities in caring for a sick child and the low amount of overtime pay she had illegitimately received, the judge reduced the charges and gave her a lighter sentence, prosecutors said.
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