Hualien County prosecutors have asked to hold Guangfu Township (光復) Mayor Lin Ching-shui (林清水) incommunicado on suspicion of negligence in evacuation duties during last year’s Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) flood, which left 19 dead and five missing.
The Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday searched eight locations, including Lin’s home and the township office, summoning Lin and three others for questioning.
Also brought in were township secretary Chang Yuan-pao (張源寶), a section chief surnamed Wang (王) and a contract employee surnamed Tseng (曾).
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Lin’s detention is necessary because he poses a risk of colluding with accomplices and witnesses, prosecutors said.
A detention hearing was to be held at about 2pm today, with the Hualien District Court to decide whether Lin would be held incommunicado.
Chang and Wang were released on bail of NT$200,000 and NT$150,000 respectively. They were placed under electronic monitoring, barred from changing residences and restricted from traveling abroad or by sea. Tseng was also restricted from changing residence, leaving the country or traveling by sea.
The four are suspected of offenses including making false entries into official documents as a public official and negligent homicide, prosecutors said.
Despite knowing that the actual number of evacuees did not meet the number of households that needed to be protected, the officials still inflated figures when reporting to higher-level agencies, they said.
If local capacity was insufficient, Lin and the township office should have requested assistance from other agencies, instead of inflating figures and creating the impression that evacuations had already been completed, prosecutors said.
Since the flood on Sept. 23 last year, which occurred when a Mataian River barrier lake burst its banks during Typhoon Ragasa, prosecutors have been collecting evidence from central, county and township authorities to determine how many people were evacuated and whether the evacuation was carried out properly.
Many agencies were involved with the Mataian River disaster, which involved monitoring, alerts, dredging and evacuations, prosecutors said, adding that they would not rule out further searches and questioning.
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