DPP lawmaker Lin I-chin indicted on corruption charges

Taipei, Oct. 9 (CNA) The Tainan District Prosecutors Office on Thursday indicted ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) for allegedly embezzling over NT$14 million (US$458,668) of publicly-funded assistant salaries.

Lin and the director of her constituency service center, surnamed Huang (黃), have been indicted for fraudulently obtaining assets under cover of legal authority according to the Anti-Corruption Act and for causing a public official to make a false entry based on the Criminal Code.

Her assistant, also surnamed Huang, was indicted for lying to prosecutors.

Another 13 individuals were given deferred prosecution.

Prosecutors said that Lin fraudulently claimed a total of NT$14,127,388 in assistant salaries from the former Tainan County Council, Tainan City Council and the Legislative Yuan, during her stints as Tainan County Councilor, Tainan City Councilor and legislator from 2009-2024.

She did so by falsely listing private assistants as publicly funded, inflating reported salaries, and claiming pay for assistants who existed in name only. She then used the funds for her service office or personal use, prosecutors said.

They noted that Lin has returned in full her alleged illegal gains.

Lin was taken in for questioning in August 2024 and released on NT$1 million bail the next day, on condition that she does not leave the country.

Prosecutors said Thursday that as her criminal activities spanned 15 years and involved numerous individuals and a large sum of money, the investigation, questioning and information cross-referencing was long and time-consuming, requiring a total of 46 interviews.

Lin served as a councilor in the former Tainan County from 1998-2010, before it was restructured as a special municipality. She then served as a Tainan City Councilor from 2010-2020, and since then has been a national-level lawmaker.