NT$1M reward offered for information leading to arrest of fugitive aide

Taipei, Sept. 15 (CNA) Police have offered a NT$1 million (US$31,400) reward for information leading to the arrest of Chang Chun-chieh (張俊傑), a former legislative aide who jumped bail earlier this month in a corruption case.

Chang, 70, the former legislative office director for independent Legislator Kao Chin Su-mei (高金素梅), was found on Sept. 6 to have broken his electronic wrist monitor and fled.

According to the Xindian Precinct of the New Taipei City Police Department, anyone with information about Chang's whereabouts can contact the precinct at 02-29104677 or call the Criminal Investigation Bureau at 02-27661919 or 02-27668989.

The NT$1 million reward will be paid if the information leads to Chang's arrest, police said.

An arrest warrant has also been issued for a missing alleged accomplice, surnamed Chen (陳), who is suspected of helping Chang damage and remove his electronic monitoring device, police added.

Police said they had carried out six rounds of searches for Chang as of Tuesday and questioned seven people suspected of helping him evade authorities.

A source familiar with the case told CNA that Chang frequently changed clothes and vehicles to avoid detection.

After his electronic monitoring device was found broken in Taipei's Daan Forest Park on Sept. 6, Chang traveled to the city's Wanhua and Ximending areas before visiting night markets in Taoyuan and Taichung in an apparent attempt to blend into crowds, the source said.

Chang later traveled south to Chiayi, Tainan and Kaohsiung, according to the source. While on the run, he avoided using his own cellphone and instead borrowed drivers' phones to contact others via Wi-Fi.

In a separate espionage case involving Chang, the Taiwan High Court ordered two of his alleged accomplices detained and held incommunicado on Sept. 10 after prosecutors accused them of violating the National Security Act by receiving funds from China to use for pro-Beijing activities in Taiwan.

Kao Chin Su-mei corruption case

Kao Chin, Chang and 22 others were indicted June 8 on corruption and fraud-related charges involving the embezzlement of public funds and 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 false claims for legislative assistant salaries, bonuses, overtime pay and child care subsidies.

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

Prosecutors recommended a prison 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.