Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), who was indicted last year over false expense claims, was charged today with embezzling over NT$13.79 million (US$438,259) in campaign funds.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office filed a supplementary indictment against Lin, her brother Lin Tai-jung (林岱融) and a friend of his for embezzlement of funds held for official duties or for the public interest.
Photo: Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times
Starting in 2021, one of Lin Tai-jung's companies, Mao Sheng Co (茂盛), began issuing false invoices for services to Lin Tai-hua's campaign, which his employees, who were not in on the scheme, lawfully reported to the Control Yuan, prosecutors said.
In total, NT$6.47 million in campaign funds were paid to Lin Tai-jung's company, the indictment said.
In addition to withdrawing some of the illicit funds in cash, the money was also used to pay tax liabilities for clients of an accounting and bookkeeping firm owned by Lin Tai-jung, as well as the corporate income taxes of three associations, it said.
Meanwhile, another company controlled by Lin Tai-jung, Jung Wei Co (融威), began false billing Lin Tai-hua's campaign for services on a fixed, monthly basis beginning in October 2021, prosecutors said.
NT$7.31 million in campaign funds were paid to Jung Wei Co, which Lin Tai-jung used to conduct a capital increase and pay the company's taxes and building rental costs, while the remainder was kept in a "discretionary slush fund," they said.
Prosecutors said Lin Tai-hua denied embezzling funds during interrogation, claiming that after the death of her father, she had given full control over reporting of campaign contributions to her brother.
Lin Tai-jung claimed that he only served as a "financial advisor" to Mao Sheng Co, which was actually managed by someone else, and that the company had provided actual services to his sister's campaign, prosecutors said.
In a statement, Lin Tai-hua said the charges against her were false, saying she had spent her whole life in politics and was committed to Taiwan's development and the well-being of its people.
Lin added that she had practically no assets, had never engaged in any type of graft or illicit gain and had no motive to misappropriate campaign contributions.
Lin, 54, served in the legislature from 2002 to 2008 and from 2011 to the present.
Her recent legal troubles began in February last year, when her offices were searched and she was questioned at an Investigation Bureau office in Kaohsiung, outside of which she held up a piece of paper and repeatedly shouted "political interference in the judiciary, judicial interference in the primary elections.”
She was indicted in June last year for making false expense claims, but nevertheless went on to run in the DPP's Kaohsiung mayoral primary while out on bail, ultimately losing to Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆).
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