Taiwan Official Jailed for 9 Years in Boat License Forgery Scheme

A Taiwanese official has been sentenced to over nine years in prison for his role in a scheme to illegally issue dozens of boat licenses. Song Li-heng, a technician at the Central Region Maritime Affairs Center of the Maritime and Port Bureau, allegedly accepted bribes ranging from NT$5,000 to NT$8,000 per license between 2008 and 2020. He is accused of forging electronic records and licenses, bypassing required tests and reviews.

Prosecutors have indicted three brokers, Zhang Wei-kuan, Zhou Yong-yu, and Huang Jian-rong, for their involvement in facilitating the illicit sales. These brokers allegedly recruited individuals who wished to obtain licenses without taking the exams, collected fees, and then passed the buyers' identification documents to Song. Song, in turn, used his official access to the bureau's systems to falsify data, including license validity and issuance dates, before printing the forged documents with official seals.

The scheme posed a significant risk to maritime safety by undermining the system for qualifying boat operators. In one instance, Zhou Yong-yu was found to have applied for a renewal of his forged second-class yacht operator license, which was then erroneously reissued by an unaware official. While the brokers face charges including bribery and forgery, 50 individuals who purchased the fake licenses have been granted deferred prosecution. These individuals must pay NT$100,000 each as a condition of their one-year deferred prosecution, acknowledging their role in using forged documents.