Taipei's Feitsui Reservoir agency head has been ousted and released on bail in a corruption case, an embarrassing first for Mayor Chiang Wan-an's administration.

• Lin Yu-yi, head of the reservoir management office, is accused of padding his official expense account with personal meals and other unrelated spending.
• Prosecutors and anti-corruption investigators searched two locations, questioned Lin and four staff, and released him on bail with a travel ban.
• The city fired him abruptly on a Thursday evening — the first time Chiang has publicly dismissed a top-level department head in nearly four years as mayor.
• The amounts involved were small, a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per claim, but using a public post to claim them still counts as fraud under Taiwan's anti-corruption law.
• Lin was a 30-year civil servant with a doctorate in soil and water conservation, decorated on retirement in 2020, and brought back by Chiang in 2022.

Outlook: Prosecutors will keep building the case while the dismissal puts pressure on Chiang's vetting of senior appointments ahead of local elections.