TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — One of the three former assistants to Hsinchu City Mayor Kao Hung-an (高虹安), who appeared in court on Monday (Sept. 25), said she had no choice but to do as the mayor said when asked to take actions that prosecutors say constituted fraud.
The assistants represent three of five defendants in a corruption case that began in a Taipei court on Monday, and all plead guilty to the charges laid against them, per CNA. Prosecutors said the trio acted with Kao and submitted false statements claiming NT$460,000 (US$14,310) in overtime pay for hours they did not work.
One of the defendants, Huang Hu-min (黃惠玟), responded to the prosecutor’s claim that they conspired with Kao by saying that she was an employee, and she had no decision-making power. “Kao Hung-an made all the decisions,” Huang said.
The defendants did not otherwise dispute the prosecutor's version of events.
Lawyers for defendants Chen Huan-yu (陳奐宇) and Chen Yu-kai (陳昱愷) said that their clients could not refuse Kao’s requests because of their position as employees. They said their clients did falsely claim the overtime pay, but asked that their sentences be suspended on compassionate grounds.
Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an. (CNA photo)
Kao, who is a member of Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), denied any wrongdoing. When the charges were first laid, Ko, a candidate in Taiwan's upcoming presidential election, said he would support Kao to defend her innocence.
Kao has been dogged by multiple corruption allegations recently. Earlier this month, she faced unrelated allegations that she abused her mayoral power on the same day she appeared in court to defend herself against claims that she plagiarized her doctoral thesis, all of which she denied.
The two other defendants in the case are Kao herself and her former assistant Wang Yu-wen (王郁文). Kao will appear in court for the overtime pay case on Oct. 11 after Wang, who will appear on Oct. 2.
Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an's former assistant Chen Yu-kai is pictured at a Taipei court on Monday. (CNA photo)
