Taipei prosecutors today searched the offices and residences of Taipei City Council Deputy Speaker Yeh Lin-chuan (葉林傳) and seven other people in connection with a corruption investigation.
Seventeen locations were searched, while 12 defendants, including Yeh and a computer game center owner surnamed Chi (紀) and three witnesses, were summoned for questioning, prosecutors said.
A small suitcase was taken away by the prosecutors after a two-hour search this morning.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Yeh was suspected to have contravened the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), while the other 11 people were suspected to have contravened Article 268 of the Criminal Code for allegedly intending to profit from a gambling business, prosecutors said.
Yeh reportedly attempted to push through amendments to Article 10 of the Taipei City Electronic Game Management and Autonomy Regulations (台北市電子遊戲場業設置管理自治條例) between 2017 and 2018 to legalize Chi’s business, prosecutors said.
Yeh is suspected of running a computer game center registered under the names of Chi and others in Zhongshan District (中山), prosecutors said.
Yeh did not avoid a conflict of interest when the Taipei City Council discussed the amendments, they said.
The case might be related to an investigation over the alleged involvement of two of Yeh’s former and current staffers in a bribery case last year, people familiar with the matter said.
A former head of Yeh’s office, surnamed Chang (張), and the current head, surnamed Lin (林), who were suspected to have bribed the police, were eventually released without bail last year.
The two were alleged to have bribed a police officer, surnamed Liu (劉), from the Songshan precinct to allow various businesses in the gambling and sex industries to run since 2009, investigators said last year.
Yeh had nothing to do with the case, investigators said at the time.
Thirty-six people, including Liu and his daughter, were summoned for questioning last year.
The investigation is still ongoing.
Additional reporting by Yang Hsin-hui, Tung Kuan-yi and Wu Sheng-ju
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