Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other county government officials were yesterday summoned by the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office as part of an investigation into a suspected corruption case.
Prosecutors’ office personnel searched more than 30 locations before 1pm yesterday — including Lin’s government-assigned housing, her private residence, and Yilan County and Bureau of Land Administration Director Yang Chung-ming’s (楊崇明) office.
Prosecutors said the search was conducted in conjunction with officials from the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, and the search warrants were approved by the county district court.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
The agency has not provided more information as to the focus or progress of the investigation.
Luodong Township Mayor (羅東) Wu Chiu-ling’s (吳秋齡) office was also searched, prosecutors said.
Wu was among those summoned for questioning about the case, along with Yilan County Department of Economic Affairs Acting Director Wu Chao-chin (吳朝琴), Yilan County Department of Transportation Director Huang Chih-liang (黃志良) and Yilan County Government Secretariat Director Tseng Cheng-yang (曾成陽), they said.
Yilan County Secretary-General Lin Mao-sheng (林茂盛) said that although the precise nature of the case is unclear, the Yilan County Government would fully cooperate with the investigation.
Sources in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who declined to be named, said that the incident would affect Lin’s bid for another term in elections later this year, adding that how much her chances would be harmed would depend on how involved she is with the alleged corruption case.
Incumbent mayors or commissioners try to avoid having their ethics and morals questioned, which is particularly true for Lin, as no Yilan County commissioner has previously been involved, or alleged to be involved, in a corruption case, the sources said.
Some within the KMT have said that they are worried that the investigation would harm Lin’s chances in the year-end elections.
The KMT said that summoning Lin for questioning was a political maneuver by the DPP to ruin Lin’s reputation.
Additional reporting by Wang Ting-chuan and CNA
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS