A corruption and smuggling case against independent Taiwanese lawmaker Kao Chin Su-mei is moving forward, with two co-defendants already admitting guilt — bad news for the legislator ahead of her own court date.

• Her office director, Li Chun-jen, pleaded guilty to breaking medical device rules and asked for a suspended sentence, saying he made no money from it.
• A second defendant, a local township council chair in Taitung, also pleaded guilty and offered to do community service.
• Prosecutors say Kao used relatives as fake names to claim more than NT$7.8 million in assistant salaries and parental leave payments over a decade.
• She is also accused of directing staff to bring in 74,000 unapproved COVID test kits from China, handed out in Indigenous areas.
• A separate aide is charged with using an Indigenous cultural association to overbill state-owned firms and a government agency for nearly NT$10 million in event subsidies.

Outlook: Kao Chin Su-mei is due in court on October 27, where the guilty pleas from her staff will make her defense harder.