A local Taiwanese politician has been charged with running a protection racket and faking invoices to dodge tens of millions in taxes — bad news for him, good news for the small businesses he allegedly squeezed.

• Han Ching-shan, the council chairman in Mailiao, Yunlin, is accused of taking protection money from soil-and-waste haulers for years.
• Prosecutors say his company issued 137 fake invoices from 2018 to 2024, moving money to friendly firms to create sham deals and pull cash back out.
• The scheme allegedly hid more than NT$150 million in fake sales and dodged over NT$33 million in business and corporate taxes.
• A nightclub he invested in is also accused of shifting revenue to a third party to avoid the higher tax rate on hostess services.
• Han denies everything, says the charges are false, and plans to fight them in court.

Outlook: Fifteen people now face trial, and prosecutors say they will keep pushing to break up organized economic crime in the area.