him demonstrating his supernatural powers and that by worshiping the pictures, his followers could become a buddha. She also accused Frank Hsieh, who was legal consultant of Sung, of taking NT$16 million in political donations from Sung and that Hsieh's wife helped with compiling and publishing books for Sung. Sung and 16 defendants were then sued by former followers and he was indicted on charges of deception for obtaining NT$3 billion in donations by claiming to have supernatural powers by which he could help people. Sung was arrested on 13 October 1996 Due to a string of religious cult scandals making news headlines such as Sung Chi-li swindling NT$3 billion and Master Miao Tien swindling NT$2 billion, the Executive Yuan organized for the first time a forum to discuss the role and regulation of religion in Taiwan. The forum was held in Taipei on 8 November 1996 and attended by 110 senior government officials, religious leaders and scholars from 12 religious communities. The forum blamed the public's ignorance that allowed cult swindling to thrive. On 23 October 1997, Sung and two assistants Chen Cheng-tung (鄭振冬) and Lo Cheng-hung (羅正弘) were convicted of fraud. Sung and Chen were sentenced to seven years, while Lo was sentenced to two years prison. Frank Hsieh's wife and 13 others were acquitted of deception. During police investigations, Sung insisted he had supernatural powers and could make anyone do as he willed. Police challenged him by inviting him to demonstrate his powers in public but Sung failed to make a standing police officer to sit down. Sung's divine photos were proven to be doctored using basic computer graphic skills. The case gained public notoriety when Frank Hsieh, who was a lawyer and legal consultant to Sung at the time, and his wife Yu Fang-chih (游芳枝), were reported to be long time followers of Sung. Yu went so far as to profess personally witnessing Sung's spirit leave his body at will. In 2005, Sung told TVBS cable news that in 2004 at a gathering in a follower's home, he had taken Hsieh on an outer body tour of Paris with a stopover at the Eiffel Tower where they could touch the cast iron. Hsieh temporarily disappeared from the political scene after it was alleged he had taken inappropriate political donations from Sung and faced fierce criticism from the public over his membership in Sung's cult Sung admitted