Taipei Chief Prosecutor Lin Jinn-tsun (
"There will be a second indictment of suspects, including the China Development Financial Holding Corp Chairman Liu Tai-ying (
Those indicted are Zanadau Development Corp majority shareholder Su Hui-chen (
PHOTO: HUNG CHENG-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The seven suspects whose charges will be suspended for two years, are Kaohsiung Fifth Credit Cooperative Credit Investigative Section Chief Hung Chen-hsiung (
All seven have been charged with breach of trust. If they do not break the law within the next two years, however, the charges against them will be automatically dropped.
"The seven suspects' charges were suspended because prosecutors believe they simply accepted orders rather than deliberately committed a crime by receiving bribes of their own volition," Chen Hung-ta said.
Su was charged with violations of the Securities Exchange Law (
Lee Ming-che was charged with corruption, forgery and breach of trust. Prosecutors demanded a 12-year sentence for him, alleging he was the broker behind the scandal.
Hsieh was charged with corruption and faces a possible 14-year sentence for allegedly using Taiwan Fertilizer's money to buy Zanadau stocks and receiving bribes from Su.
Yu Chen was charged with violation of the Securities Exchange Law and breach of trust for allegedly manipulating Zanadau's stocks as the company's president in 1998.
Yu Chen's resignation as a senior adviser to the president was immediately approved by President Chen Shui-bian (
Wong was charged with corruption and faces a possible nine-year sentence for allegedly receiving NT$25 million via Hsieh, as a bribe from Su.
Lin was charged with corruption with a recommended seven-year sentence for helping Su to receive a license for the construction of Zanadau's 11.66 hectare Tahu Commercial Zone (大湖工商綜合區) in Kaohsiung County, when the company did not meet eligibility criteria for such a license.
Lee Ming-se was charged with breach of trust with a suggested four-year sentence. Charges against the rest of the bank's employees were suspended.
They all allegedly helped Su gain financing from the bank, although Su had a poor credit history and was not qualified for the mortgage.
Chinese-language media have reported that prosecutors hurried to wrap up the first indictment yesterday because their deadline for indicting or relasing two of the major suspects -- Hsieh and Lee Ming-che -- falls tomorrow.
Hsieh and Lee have been detained since Oct. 17 last year. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), a detention request is valid for two months if approved by judges connected to the case.
Prosecutors may request another two months, making the total length of the detention four months, if necessary.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that