The Taipei District Court today issued an arrest warrant for independent Legislator May Chin’s (高金素梅) former aide, Chang Chun-chieh (張俊傑), after he disappeared following a low-battery alert from his electronic monitoring bracelet.
Chin and Chang were indicted in June by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for allegedly conspiring to fraudulently claim more than NT$7.87 million (US$248,376) in aide expenses and illegally import medical rapid test kits.
Prosecutors indicted 24 people involved in the case on corruption and other charges, seeking prison sentences of at least 12 years and six months for Kao and 16 years for Chang.
Photo: Taipei Times
Chang was separately indicted on suspicion of using the Taiwan Indigenous Multiethnic Cultural Exchange Association to falsely claim subsidies from state-owned enterprises.
Chang was released on bail of NT$10 million, banned from travel and placed under electronic monitoring while he was being tried in the case, the Taipei District Court said.
After Chang’s electronic wrist monitor issued a low-battery alert late yesterday, court bailiffs went to detain him, but could not locate him.
The court therefore issued an arrest warrant this morning, valid until Jan. 21, 2059, the court said.
The presiding judge in the case, Lin Cheng-hsin (林承歆), went to the bracelet’s pinged location, but found it discarded and damaged, the court said, adding that it reported Chang for allegedly damaging public property.
Police were notified to detain Chang, but were unsuccessful, as his whereabouts remain unknown, it said.
The indictment in June alleged that from 2008 to 2018, Kao used relatives as nominal aides to fraudulently claim government-funded aide subsidies and childcare allowances from the Legislative Yuan totaling more than NT$7.87 million.
In addition, Kao allegedly imported more than 70,000 rapid test kits from China during the COVID-19 pandemic under a government policy allowing people to import test kits for personal use, prosecutors said.
However, Kao distributed them to others, allegedly contravening the Medical Devices Act (醫療器材管理法), they said.
In a separate indictment, prosecutors said Chang allegedly used his position as the de facto head of the Taiwan Indigenous Multiethnic Cultural Exchange Association between 2015 and 2016 to apply for more than NT$16 million in government subsidies from the Council of Indigenous Peoples, CPC Corp, Taiwan and Taiwan Power Co for events.
After receiving the subsidies, he allegedly did not hold the events and instead diverted the money for personal use, prosecutors said.
Chang appeared at the Taipei District Court on Tuesday last week and denied corruption charges.
He pleaded guilty to charges including document forgery, but maintained that he had not been involved in the use of nominal aides, had no intention to commit fraud and had performed aide duties.
Additional reporting by CNA
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