(Reporter Wang Yinfang/Comprehensive Report) The Hsinchu Mayor candidate Gao Hongan of the People’s Party was exposed to fraudulently receiving assistant fees, which was a shock bomb before the general election! Compared with past cases in China, a prosecutor said straightly that Gao Hongan “can’t run away!” Because of the low salary and high reporting of civil assistants’ fees, involuntary donations, embezzlement and other criminal appearances, almost all of them have been used in past cases. It was determined by the court to constitute the crimes of “taking advantage of official opportunities to defraud property” and forgery of documents under the “Corruption Crimes Ordinance”.
In recent years, there have been numerous cases of fraudulently collecting assistant fees on behalf of the people. The first one that attracted public attention was the Kaohsiung City Council in 2008. At that time, the prosecutors of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutor’s Office investigated the case of the city councilor Lin Wuzhong’s privilege sales. 20 councilors were also involved in privilege draw and falsely reporting assistant fees. For this reason, Xiong Xiong searched the city council and summoned nearly a hundred people. Finally, it was found that 20 councilors, including former speaker Xu Kunyuan, were suspected of using their heads to claim assistant fees. The prosecution determined that the assistant fee was a substantive subsidy to the congressman, but it was declared in a false name. Therefore, it was only prosecuted for the crime of forging documents, and both of them might be exempted from fines.
However, the judicial intervention in the investigation has not curbed this trend of fraudulent receipts. For more than ten years, the congressmen who were sentenced for being involved in the case of assistant fees are still “successful”, regardless of blue and green. If it is found that it has been in the personal pockets of the congressman, it will be brought to justice for the crime of corruption starting from seven years in prison.
Assistant Fei Jin’s Pocket Seized and Sentenced to 7 Years
Taking stock of the cases of parliamentarians fraudulently receiving assistant fees in recent years, the most severely sentenced was Cheng Wanguan, a former Penghu county councilor without party membership. Sentenced to 10 years in June by the Supreme Court; followed by Chen Cuiluan, a former Kaohsiung city councilor from the Kuomintang, who was sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in 2018 for fraudulently receiving 30,000 yuan from parliamentarians for investigation. Senator, actually worked as an assistant in the remote control service office in the prison, and fraudulently received 4.49 million yuan in assistant fees by means of low salary and high report and head count. The appeal is in the second instance.
The third highest sentence is the current New Taipei City Councilor Wang Shuhui. She was accused of fraudulently receiving 3.35 million yuan by using head assistants and low salaries and high reports. In January this year, she was sentenced to 9 years in prison by the New Taipei District Court. Suspension of powers is also being appealed to the High Court.
A senior prosecutor said that Chen Cuiluan and Wang Shuhui received heavy sentences at the first trial for the same reason, that is, the confession was retracted during the trial, and the criminal facts admitted during the investigation were all denied in court, but they might not justify themselves, and even lied that the assistant returned voluntarily. Donations or debt repayment, and handing in thanks, but they were all caught by the judge, and they were labeled as sophistry without remorse following committing a crime and a waste of judicial resources. It is difficult not to give a heavy sentence.
He pointed out that whether fraudulently receiving assistant fees constitutes a crime of corruption depends on the final flow of money. If it is used for private purposes such as paying mortgages, car loans, hair washing and shopping, it will be a crime with “illegal possession”; Official or related business, you may escape unharmed.
For example, Zhang Zhaoliang, a former Taoyuan City Councilor who made a comeback this year to run for the Democratic Progressive Party, was accused of underreporting and overpaying 10.48 million yuan for public assistants during his term of office. He was suspected of corruption and forged documents. The assistant spent 12.14 million yuan, which has exceeded the overpaid assistant fee. It is determined that he has not filled his own pocket. In 2020, he will be acquitted of the corruption part.
People in the legal circle pointed out that due to factors such as the upcoming general election and the mid-term of the Legislative Yuan, the delay in launching the search and summons action does not mean that there are no other investigations in progress. Because the case was initially reported by an internal whistleblower, and the case involved the current Legislator and county mayor candidate Gao Hongan also affects other legislators of the People’s Party and the Yongling Foundation. After the election, it is bound to continue to receive attention.
Original URL of Ling Media:News analysis/The fraudulent collar assistant case is super-competitive with the prosecutor’s assertion that “Gao Hongan can’t escape”
