Prosecutors appeal Yilan magistrate's 'overly lenient' verdict

Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) Prosecutors said Tuesday they have filed an appeal to have Yilan County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙), sentenced to 12.5 years in prison for giving a tax waiver to a Luodong Township landowner, retried on related corruption charges.

In December last year, the 73-year-old Lin was found guilty of seeking illegal gains through her supervisory role as a public official, money laundering and having unaccounted-for assets as a public official.

However, the Yilan District Court determined there was insufficient evidence to prove Lin had engaged in corruption, a charge for which prosecutors had sought a 20-year sentence.

In a statement, the Yilan District Prosecutors Office said the Yilan District Court's findings were "flawed" and that the sentences for Lin and 13 other defendants - who received jail terms ranging from four months to five years and ten months - were too lenient.

Lin, a member of the Kuomintang (KMT), was indicted along with 14 others in 2022 over a scheme to waive NT$1.12 million (US$36,577) in land value increment tax for a plot of land in Luodong Township.

In return, the landowner provided land used for Lin's campaign headquarters in 2018 and the KMT's Yilan campaign headquarters ahead of the 2020 presidential election, prosecutors alleged.

During their investigation, prosecutors also found that Lin had NT$70 million in transactions in and out of her Farmer's Association bank account whose source she could not account for, the indictment said.

Lin was suspended as Yilan County magistrate following her conviction, with her deputy, Lin Mao-sheng (林茂盛), currently serving as acting magistrate.