The detention of Pingtung City’s top two public officials yesterday left ?the city headless, with Pingtung Mayor Lin Hsieh-sung (林協松) and Pingtung City Council Speaker Hsiao Kuo-liang (蕭國亮) facing corruption charges.
Lin of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 2018 won the mayoral race against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lee Ching-sheng (李清聖) by just over 9,000 votes, while Hsiao, also of the KMT, retained his local representative seat.
Agency Against Corruption personnel and Pingtung prosecutors on Tuesday conducted searches and summoned 10 people, including Lin and Hsiao, for questioning in connection with the case, which was opened in May.
Prosecutors said that they plan to indict Lin and Hsiao.
A bail court judge approved detention of the pair with restricted communication.
Lin and Hsiao are expected to be charged with breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例) and the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法) for producing forged receipts and other offenses, prosecutors said.
Searches were conducted in May of Lin’s and Hsiao’s residences and offices after authorities received complaints of fluctuations in prices for gift items, including tea, flasks and souvenirs, procured by the council.
Prosecutors reportedly found accounting discrepancies, falsified receipts and purchasing figures that exceeded council budgets.
They accused the two officials of colluding with suppliers to profit from public funds by siphoning money from procurement programs.
Elsewhere, former Taoyuan City Government official Chou Tao-te (鄒德道) on Tuesday was convicted of receiving bribes and other corruption charges, and given a two-year suspended sentence and fined NT$1 million (US$33,800).
Chou worked as a top aide and chief secretary to former Taoyuan mayor John Wu (吳志揚), who is now CPBL commissioner.
Chou was accused of taking bribes, including a BMW sedan, from real-estate developers to change zoning designations from agricultural to industrial.
In the first ruling, Chou was found and handed a seven-and-a-half year sentence, while the illegal profits were confiscated.
However, he appealed and although the High Court upheld the guilty decision, it reduced the sentence.
The latest ruling can still be appealed.
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