Taipei prosecutors found that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) had allegedly paid NT$80 million (US$2.69 million at the current exchange rate) for information from Chinese informants, while investigating Chin’s fraud lawsuit against socialite Lin Yuan-chun (林爰君), better known as JoJo Lin.
Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all charges against Lin, who was named along with two other people as defendants, saying that they could not substantiate the fraud allegations.
Lin was reportedly unable to speak after going through a major illness.
Photo: Kuo An-chia, Taipei Times
Banking records and other evidence showed that Chin and her assistants had from 2007 to 2016 transferred a total of NT$80 million to accounts controlled by Lin, Lin’s son and another friend to allegedly pay Chinese informants, prosecutors said.
Chin told investigators that when serving as a legislator in the early 2000s, she was approached by Lin, who said she had friends connected to the Chinese government who would be able to access Chinese intelligence to “dig up dirt” on Taiwanese politicians, prosecutors said.
Chin agreed to pay for Lin’s Chinese friends to act as informants, and afterward made payments to protect the informants, who allegedly had their identities blown and had to hide from the Chinese authorities, prosecutors said, adding that Chin and her assistants made 283 transfers in total.
Initially, prosecutors found that Chin had transferred NT$30 million to Lin, but later they found that Chin and her assistants had transferred a further NT$50 million through overseas accounts.
Chin eventually became suspicious and stopped paying the money. She then filed a lawsuit against Lin, saying she had misled her about the Chinese informants and accusing her and the other two defendants of defrauding her of NT$80 million, prosecutors said.
Chin had reportedly been trying to obtain information about then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who served two terms from 2000 to 2008, so that she could use it against officials in Chen’s administration and to attack Chen’s policies during question-and-answer sessions at the legislature.
Chin has served five terms as a Taipei city councilor starting in 1989, and currently represents Taipei’s Songshan (松山) and Xinyi (信義) districts.
She had the reputation of clashing with Chen when he was Taipei mayor from 1994 to 1998 and she was a city councilor.
In a famous case in 2000, Chin accused Chen of receiving a political donation of NT$140 million from then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民), but no evidence was found to substantiate her claim.
Chin has twice served in the legislature, the first time as a KMT lawmaker starting in 1998 and the second time representing the People First Party, founded by former KMT politician James Soong (宋楚瑜), from 2001 to 2004. She rejoined the KMT in 2005.
Lin became prominent in 1998 when she claimed to have had an affair with business tycoon Winston Wong (王文洋), chairman of the board of Grace THW Group, and given birth to his daughter.
Lin later was convicted of blackmail and defamation after asking for NT$3.2 million from Wong, and had to serve 18 months in prison after she was detained in 2003.
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