KMT Legislator Kuo Ting-tsai (
Kuo, who was chairman of the Tungkang Credit Cooperative (
Kuo, 63, was found to have instructed the cooperative's staff to doctor account books and forge certificates of deposit, and to have removed NT$2.3 billion from the cooperative since April 1996.
The court found that Kuo then diverted the money to the Fahua Securities Investment Trust Co, where he served as chairman between May 1996 and January 1997, to invest in the stock market. But the company itself was also a victim as Kuo had tampered with the company's certificates of deposit and used them to borrow money from the Tungkang cooperative during the period.
The court found that after his departure from the company, Kuo's son, Kuo Chia-cheng (
The scandal came to light last July when investigators at the Central Deposit Insurance Corp (
Following disclosure of the scandal last year, the Tangkang co-operative became victim of a bank run when many of its customers withdrew their funds, and was taken over by the Bank of Taiwan.
The Kuos, along with Hsu Shu-chin (
During the investigations, Kuo went into hiding to dodge questioning by prosecutors between legislative sessions. When the session began, he used legislators' immunity from arrest to protect himself from prosecutors.
During the trial, the legislator did not answer the court's summons until his son was ordered to be detained by the district court.
The district court sentenced Kuo to 12 years yesterday, while his son was sentenced to one year and two months. The cooperative's chief accountant was given 11 years and 10 months and another eight of the cooperative's accountants were given sentences ranging from one year to five years.
Kuo and the others can appeal to a higher court and his legislative office will not be affected until his conviction is confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Apart from embezzlement, the KMT legislator is also being tried for a land-rezoning case, in which he has been accused of graft when he was a member of the Pingtung County Urban Planning Committee between 1989 and 1992.
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