Aide questioned after indicted lawmaker's office manager jumps bail

Taipei, Sept. 9 (CNA) Taipei prosecutors have questioned an aide who allegedly met with Chang Chun-chieh (張俊傑), the office manager of indicted Legislator Kao Chin Su-mei (高金素梅), on Sunday before Chang jumped bail.

In a statement, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office said it had carried out searches with New Taipei Xindian Precinct police Tuesday at the homes of Chang, his daughter, and another aide to Kao Chin surnamed Chen (陳), who was also summoned for questioning.

On Wednesday, additional searches were conducted at Chen's office at the Legislative Yuan, prosecutors said, adding that she was later granted bail of NT$50,000 (US$1,589) with restrictions on her residence.

According to local news reports, Chen met with Chang at around 10 a.m. on Sunday. The two shared a meal for under an hour, during which time Chang is suspected of giving her unspecified objects, the reports said.

The alleged contact came hours before Chang's electronic wrist monitor sent out a low-battery alert on Sunday night, which led responding police to discover that Chang had gone missing and his monitor had been broken and discarded.

An arrest warrant was issued for Chang, but as of Wednesday he had not been located.

Kao Chin Su-mei corruption case

Kao Chin, Chang and 22 others were indicted June 8 on corruption and fraud-related charges related to the embezzlement of public funds and the importation of unapproved COVID-19 test kits from China.

Kao Chin, who has denied wrongdoing, was accused of fraudulently obtaining more than NT$7.87 million in public funds through fraudulent claims for legislative assistant salaries, bonuses, overtime pay and childcare subsidies.

This included registering several individuals, including her siblings, as legislative assistants, despite them not actually performing any duties, prosecutors alleged.

Chang, meanwhile, was accused of conspiring with Kao Chin to fraudulently obtain funds earmarked for assistant salaries, as well as using an Indigenous cultural association to fraudulently obtain over NT$9.33 million from government agencies and state-owned enterprises.

Prosecutors said that during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022, Kao Chin also authorized Chang to enlist others to illegally import 74,400 unapproved rapid test kits from China, circumventing medical device regulations.

Kao Chin, however, has claimed that the rapid test kits were intended to help Indigenous communities amid a shortage of the devices in Taiwan.

In the indictment, prosecutors recommended a sentence of at least 16 years for Chang and 12.5 years for Kao Chin.

Chang, who was held incommunicado for nearly four months before his indictment, was released on NT$10 million bail in June.

At the time, Chang's lawyers sought his release on health grounds, noting that he was over 70 years old and battling lung cancer.

During the first day of his trial on Sept. 1, Chang denied the corruption charges but admitted to other offenses, such as document forgery. He argued that he was not merely a legislative aide in name only, but had actually performed his duties and lacked criminal intent.