Taipei: The Shilin District Prosecutors Office on Tuesday indicted Taipei City Councilor Chen E-jun on charges of accepting bribes and misusing public funds.
According to Focus Taiwan, the councilor, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and her assistant Chang Hui-lin were accused of accepting bribes from Pinchia Construction Co., Ltd. between August 2023 and February 2025, as stated in a statement from the prosecutors office.
Pinchia's representative Hu Wei-liang and president Kao Ming-yi were also indicted for offering bribes to Chen and Chang in exchange for expediting the issuance of construction permits for a site in Datong District, the statement revealed.
Prosecutors detailed that Hu and Kao hired Chang as a company consultant and paid her monthly fees totaling over NT$700,000 (US$23,351). In return, Chen and Chang exerted pressure on Taipei City Government departments overseeing reviews and construction to accelerate administrative procedures. They also used the city councilor's office to request assistance with tasks such as street tree transplantation and temporary utility integration.
Prosecutors mentioned that Kao admitted to recruiting Chang because civil servants tended to be more responsive when a city councilor was involved in monitoring construction progress. Additionally, Chang admitted to receiving money from Pinchia and assisting the company with constituent services, as well as relaying urban renewal needs to Kao.
On the same day, Chen and Chang were indicted for fraudulently claiming over NT$3.84 million in assistant salaries. The two have been held incommunicado since February, as the Shilin District Court cited concerns over potential collusion and evidence tampering.
Furthermore, three other individuals, all family members of Chen and Chang, were indicted for allegedly allowing their names to be used as assistants in the salary fraud scheme, according to prosecutors. The three admitted to not actually serving as councilor assistants, while both Chen and Chang confessed during the investigation. The two also voluntarily returned the full amount of the misappropriated assistant salaries.