TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The verdict for Yilan County Magistrate Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) over corruption and money laundering charges will be announced on Dec. 31 with prosecutors seeking a 20-year sentence.
During Wednesday's (Oct. 23) closing arguments, Lin reiterated her innocence, saying she has acted lawfully and ethically, per CNA. Lin hoped the judge would clear her name and find her not guilty.
Lin, her daughter Lin Yi-ling (林羿伶), and 13 others, including several Yilan County government officials were indicted on Aug. 23, 2022, on charges including corruption, forgery, unexplained assets, and money laundering. After the indictment, many defendants retracted their confessions in preliminary hearings at the Yilan District Court, accusing the investigators of improper conduct in obtaining their statements. The defense also reviewed interrogation videos.
According to the indictment, Lin and others were involved in a scheme to waive NT$1.12 million (US$35,000) in land value increment tax for a privately owned plot of land. In exchange, the landowners, including Chen Cheng-hsun (陳正勳), provided land used as Lin’s campaign headquarters during the 2018 county magistrate election and later as the Yilan campaign headquarters for the KMT's 2020 presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Lin allegedly gained NT$2.4 million in benefits from this arrangement.
In addition, since March 1, 2010, when Lin became Luodong Township mayor and after she became Yilan County Magistrate on Dec. 25, 2018, she had unexplained tens of millions of NT dollars, while only receiving a NT$30,000 monthly rental income and a NT$150,000 monthly salary.
She allegedly instructed her assistant, Chang Kuei-ling (張桂綾), to deposit pre-issued checks into accounts either rented or borrowed for free from others and then withdraw the money.
This created the false appearance of conducting loans, leading to charges of violating the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and charges of unexplained wealth under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
During previous court hearings, Lin argued that many of the accused civil servants had worked for over 30 years and were nearing retirement. She questioned why they would jeopardize their careers over a single document or phone call.
Lin claimed to have done nothing wrong and as county magistrate worked to promote the county government and serve the people. Lin claimed she was saddened by how prosecutors and investigators fabricated evidence against her by misrepresenting facts.
In Wednesday's hearing, Lin and Chang's lawyers argued that when the Agency Against Corruption initially questioned witnesses video segments were deliberately deleted. They also alleged the agency pressured or threatened witnesses to provide false testimonies, which they claim constituted “fraud and improper interrogation.”
For Lin’s alleged breach of the Anti-Corruption Act prosecutors requested a 20-year prison sentence and a five-year deprivation of citizen’s rights. For her alleged Money Laundering Control Act violation, they sought a two-and-a-half-year sentence, a NT$2 million fine, and confiscation of illegal gains.
Lin Yi-ling was charged with violating the Anti-Corruption Act by accepting improper benefits with prosecutors seeking a 12-year sentence and a four-year deprivation of citizen's rights. Wu Chao-chin (吳朝琴), acting director of Yilan County's construction department at the time, was also charged with accepting illegal benefits in violation of the Anti-Corruption Act, with the prosecution seeking 10 years in prison and a four-year deprivation of citizen's rights.
