New Taipei City prosecutors today asked the district court to detain and hold incommunicado Hsieh Yi-jung (謝宜容), the former Ministry of Labor official fired for workplace bullying, on suspicion of embezzling public funds.
The New Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Investigation Bureau, under the Ministry of Justice, conducted searches on Tuesday at 22 locations, including the northern branch of the Workforce Development Agency, as well as Hsieh's residence, offices and the homes of related individuals.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Early this morning, the office filed for the court's permission to detain Hsieh on suspicion of corruption.
They also brought in 22 others for questioning over possible breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Of those, prosecutors listed 12 as suspects and released them on bails ranging from NT$30,000 to NT$180,000.
The rest were released as witnesses without charge.
The investigation follows the suicide of a 39-year-old civil servant from the agency, allegedly due to workplace bullying by Hsieh, which resulted in her dismissal on Nov. 20.
Separately, Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) filed charges against Hsieh for negligent homicide with the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office on Nov. 21.
Four days later, Chung added charges against former minister of labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) and Hsieh for misusing public funds, including the Employment Stabilization Fund and special expenses, for personal purposes such as purchasing private gifts and organizing a concert.
The corruption case against Hsieh was transferred to the New Taipei District Prosecutors' Office following approval by the High Prosecutors' Office.
According to sources familiar with the case, the New Taipei City prosecutors' investigation focuses on issues related to suspected breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act, specifically office renovations and purchasing gifts.
The negligent homicide allegations are being handled separately.
The prosecutors' office said that due to the severity of the charges, which carry a minimum prison sentence of five years, there are significant grounds to believe that Hsieh might attempt to flee, falsify evidence or collude with witnesses.
As a result, the office said it was necessary to detain Hsieh and hold her incommunicado, saying that the request for Hsieh's detention was filed to the court at about 6am.
Hsieh was transferred to the prosecutors' office for questioning at about 1:40am today.
At the time, she remained silent when confronted by the media.
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