Chen Jianlang, who was a cemetery inspector at the Taipei City Funeral Office at the time, was suspected of seeking profit from cemeteries in two cemeteries including the Yangmingshan No. 1 Cemetery. The prosecutor launched a search.

The picture shows the fire department holding a disaster prevention drill at the Yangmingshan No. 1 Cemetery, which has nothing to do with the news event.

(file photo)

[Reporter Qian Lizhong/Taipei Report] The Taipei City Funeral and Interment Management Office repeatedly broke out malfeasance, and then it was reported that the grassroots tomb patrols were seeking to benefit the tomb industry, and they covered up about 5 illegal bone excavations and burials and did not report them; Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office Yesterday, he commanded the ICAC soldiers to search in 6 ways, and interviewed the tomb inspector Chen Jianlang, who retired last year and was elected as the head of the village, and the two tomb makers Qiu Chuigang and Zeng Fansheng. Chen Nansheng was detained for the crime of profiteering in the regulations, and Qiu and Zeng were ordered to pay 500,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan on bail respectively.

The prosecutor was informed that from 2018 to 2022, the tomb inspector surnamed Chen was suspected of profiting from two tomb makers, covering about 5 illegal excavations and back burials. The crimes took place in Yangmingshan No. District Longgang Cemetery.

Please read on...

The civil affairs bureaus of the county and city governments have successively promoted cremation instead of burial, especially in Taipei City, where the land is small and densely populated, and the cemetery buried in the ground in the early years, if the descendants have plans to pick up bones and repair the tomb, they must give up the acupuncture points of the ancestors and choose the second cremation Jin Pagoda may buy another private cemetery for burial. Some people want to pick up the bones, but don't want to give up the acupuncture points of their ancestors, so they violate the regulations and build the tombs privately.

Funeral and interment management regulations stipulate that excavation and reburial are not allowed without an excavation permit. Violators may be fined 30,000 to 150,000 yuan.

Mountain patrol officers are responsible for reporting such violations, and will conduct administrative sanctions depending on the circumstances after investigation. Since there are tens of thousands of tombs in Beishi that have not been relocated, if any civil servant receives red envelopes, the illegal interests will be huge. The malpractice of bribery is under investigation.

The whole case originated from the fact that some people were dissatisfied with the unfair standard of banning illegal bone picking and tomb repair at Beishi Funeral Office, and angrily reported to the government units. The tomb repair case involved cover-up violations, and it was reported to the Beijing Procuratorate to direct the investigation; the practitioner surnamed Qiu involved in this case had also been involved in similar fraud cases before.

Between 2015 and 2016, patrol officers at Yangmingshan No. 1 Cemetery released water on bone pickers, commonly known as "earth dolls," when they handled violations of the cemetery's excavation cases; 1. For the crime of profiting from the competent affairs, the tomb inspector was sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison, and the tomb management technician was sentenced to 1 year and 4 months in prison; and the tomb builder surnamed Qiu involved in this case was also involved in the case.

Chen Jianlang was elected village chief after his retirement last year.

(Extracted from the website of the Ministry of the Interior)