Prosecutors yesterday searched the offices of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) as part of an investigation into allegations that she fraudulently claimed expenses to pay her assistants.
Prosecutors and investigators searched Lin’s office at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei and her constituency service office in Kaohsiung, before taking her in for questioning at the southern mobile workstation of the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港).
When she was apprehended, Lin took out a sheet of paper and repeatedly shouted to the media: “Political interference in the Judicial Yuan. The Judicial Yuan is interfering in the primaries.”
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Lin has been leading in public polls to win the DPP primary for the Kaohsiung mayoral election next year.
Her constituency service office yesterday released a statement saying that as legislator, Lin had not broken the law, and all expenses claimed were legal and justified, adding that they would cooperate with the Judicial Yuan’s investigation.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office declined to comment on the case.
The Legislative Yuan issued a news release saying that the search of Lin’s office complied with regulations and it was notified in advance by prosecutors.
It declined to comment further on the details of an ongoing investigation.
Investigators completed the search at 11:10am, leaving the Legislative Yuan with four white boxes.
Lin, the daughter of the former Fongshan (鳳山) mayor Lin San-lang (林三郎), was first elected to the Legislative Yuan in 2001 as a representative of Fongshan in Kaohsiung.
In 2009, she was nominated as mayor of then-Kaohsiung County, but in the same year, Kaohsiung County merged with Kaohsiung City and the position was canceled.
Lin has been described as a “lone wolf legislator” due to her strong Buddhist beliefs and religious affiliations. She has also been involved in past controversies, including opposition to same-sex marriage.
There have been reports that three of her opponents, all legislators from the DPP’s New Tide Faction, might join forces and nominate a single candidate to face off against Lin.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said he respects the judiciary and hopes that investigators would find out the truth.
DPP anti-corruption committee head Chiou Jiunn-yann (邱駿彥) said a meeting would be held on Wednesday next week to discuss the case of DPP Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun (陳怡君), who allegedly claimed NT$3 million (US$91,489) in fraudulent assistant fees, but whether they would also discuss Lin’s case would depend on the evidence and whether she is detained.
Meanwhile, the Shilin District Court yesterday in a second detention hearing ruled that Chen be detained without visitation rights.
Chen’s bail was initially set at NT$1 million on Thursday last week, but after the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office filed an appeal on Monday, the decision was overturned by the High Court.
Chen and her publicly funded assistant surnamed Chang (張), received more than NT$3 million from the Taipei City Council for assistant fees from 2019 to this year, which she allegedly filed under the names of four relatives.
Chen has been denied bail due to concerns of evidence tampering and possible risk of colluding with witnesses and codefendants, the court said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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