A major case of emptying out temple property occurred at Donglin Temple in Yilan County! The investigation investigated the involvement of abbot Zhang Qingyu and his son Zhang Weifu in embezzling temple property, and the hiding place was exposed. It is reported that the task force dug out more than 10 iron boxes under the rubble outside the Zen room and seized gold and silver weighing nearly 800 kilograms and with a market value of more than 330 million yuan.
Prosecutors found that Zhang and his son were involved in taking large sums of donations from believers as their own, laundering and hiding them by purchasing virtual currencies, gold and silver. The Yilan District Prosecutor's Office launched a search on the 2nd, arrested Zhang and his son and summoned nine people to the case. After interrogation all night, it was determined that the crimes involved in public welfare embezzlement and aggravated money laundering were serious. Yesterday, he applied to the court for a detention ban and was approved.
It is reported that during the search, the inspectors dug out a huge amount of gold and silver under the rubble outside the Donglin Temple Buddhist temple. The gold alone was more than 70 kilograms and the silver was more than 700 kilograms. Many virtual currencies and account deposits were seized. The prosecutor's initial estimate is that the total amount of temple property and charity money illegally misappropriated by Zhang and his son exceeds 300 million yuan. The two people were involved in using temple property as a private treasury, and their money laundering techniques were extremely professional.
The prosecutor's investigation further found that Donglin Temple's internal accounts were full of flaws, the board of directors and supervisors system was ineffective, and the fund management and control was entirely controlled by Zhang Qingyu. The laundered funds were allegedly misappropriated to purchase farmhouses and large amounts of land around the temple, and even purchased luxury campers for private enjoyment.
The initial starting point of the controversy in the whole case came when the family of the century-old Jin Cheng Fish Balls store on Dihua Street in Taipei City came forward to accuse the temple of suspected fraud, and the case of emptying the temple property came to light. Faced with the accusation, Zhang Qingyu even appeared in court in a high-profile court appearance in a Porsche SUV worth nearly 5 million yuan in August this year. At that time, he tried his best to cry out for injustice and criticized his family members for malicious slander.
The remaining five temple officials are also defendants in the case. The prosecutor ordered bail ranging from 100,000 yuan to 1 million yuan. The prosecutor will continue to investigate the relevant financial flows and other people involved in the case to clarify whether more donations have been concealed.
Donglin Temple is hidden in the valley of Dongshan Township. It is famous for its modern Zen architecture and the thousand-year-old nanmu Buddha. It was originally a pure land in the hearts of believers. Now it is revealed that the abbot and his son are suspected of siphoning off hundreds of millions of temple properties, causing an uproar among countless believers.
