The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a verdict by the Taiwan High Court and the Kaohsiung District Court sentencing Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chu An-hsiung (
According to Article 79 of the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法), the Executive Yuan will relieve Chu of his position as a Kaohsiung City councilor.
He will also lose his speakership and constitutional immunity. Chu will have to begin his jail term when summoned.
According to the Taiwan High Court's verdict, upheld by the Supreme Court yesterday, Chu was sentenced to 22 months in prison and his civil rights will be suspended for three years.
His campaign assistant, Cheng Ming-chin (
The Supreme Court's decision exhausts Chu's avenues for appeal.
"We have carefully reviewed the entire case and did not discover any flaw in the high court's verdict. As a result, we decided to uphold the verdict and make it final," said Chang Hsin-hsiung (
Chang said the high court's verdict was made based on prosecutors' interrogations with the defendants and witnesses, as well as the NT$50,000 which was later confirmed to be bribe money. He said the verdict was perfect and clear.
As of press time yesterday, Cabinet officials said they had not received the official verdict, which usually takes seven to 10 days to be delivered, so they cannot comment on the case.
Chu said he was calm upon hearing that his appeal had been rejected.
"I am still a councilor and I still have my obligation to serve my supporters. I have not thought about what to do at this moment," Chu said.
Chu and Cheng tried to buy votes for NT$500 each during the Dec. 1 election for Kaohsiung City council.
The Kaohsiung District Court sentenced Chu to 22 months in jail and suspended his civil rights for three years.
For Cheng, judges decided to put him away for 18 months and suspend his civil rights for three years.
Chu and Cheng appealed to the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung Branch. In May, the high court upheld the district court's decision on Chu.
High court judges decided to decrease Cheng's sentence from 18 months to nine months and civil-rights suspension from three years to two years because Cheng cooperated with prosecutors during the investigation and confessed to the crime.
In addition to this case, Chu has been indicted, and prosecutors are recommending a 30-month sentence, for his allegedly buying votes for NT$5 million each during last year's city council speakership election.
Kaohsiung District Court Presiding Judge Lin Shui-cheng (林水城) has requested that Chu be arrested, saying he has dodged his summons by using flimsy excuses.
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