Former legislative speaker and People First Party (PFP) Legislator Liu Sung-fan (劉松藩) yesterday resigned his seat after the Taiwan High Court's Taichung Branch sentenced him to four years in jail for corruption.
"[Lu's] resignation is in accordance with the appropriate procedures and has been referred to the Central Election Commission," Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
Liu is understood to have instructed his staff to submit a letter of resignation in his absence.
In addition to the jail time, Liu has been given a NT$30 million fine. The verdict cannot be appealed.
The court said that Liu received NT$150 million in kickbacks from Tseng Cheng-jen (曾正仁), president of the Kuangsan Enterprise Group and chairman of the board at the Taichung Business Bank, a Kuangsan subsidiary.
Tseng was sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment in June. Upon learning of the verdict, Tseng fled the country with his wife. He is thought to be living in Shanghai.
The court yesterday issued an order preventing Liu from leaving the country. But Liu has been reported to be attending the Republican Party convention in the US.
"If Liu isn't in Taiwan, we hope that he will return to serve his sentence. If the sentence cannot be executed, a warrant will be issued for his arrest and will be valid for 15 years," court spokesman Chen Chi-kang (
In October 1992, Liu became president of the Bank of Taichung -- later renamed the Taichung Business Bank -- until October 1998, when Tseng took over the position.
Taichung prosecutors alleged in 2001 that Tseng had abused his position as president of the bank in November 1998 to push through loans worth more than NT$9 billion. He also kept dummy accounts in six companies to facilitate the illegal transactions.
The court yesterday determined that Liu had served as a middleman in these activities. Liu conspired with a private firm, the Chihching Company, to harbor one of Tseng's dummy accounts. The company, which at the time only had capital of NT$2 million, managed to secure a loan of NT$1.5 billion from Taichung Business Bank.
In return, Liu was paid NT$150 million as a kickback.
According to a Chinese-language newspaper report, Liu claimed that when the Chihching loan was secured, he was not holding any position at the Taichung Business Bank and was therefore not able to have any influence on the board's decision to grant the loan.
Liu had also claimed that the NT$150 million check he received from Tseng was money borrowed personally from Tseng for his election campaign fund.
As Liu is a legislator-at-large, the PFP will be able to replace him with another party member.
The next candidate on the PFP's legislator-at-large list for this legislative term is Chen Fei-lung (陳飛龍), the chairman of the Namchow Group.
The candidate following Chen is PFP Chairman James Soong (
Additional reporting by Debby Wu
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
‘ADDITIONAL CONDITION’: Taiwan will work with like-minded countries to protect its right to participate in next year’s meeting, the foreign ministry said The US will “continue to press China for security arrangements and protocols that safeguard all participants when attending APEC meetings in China,” a US Department of State spokesperson said yesterday, after Beijing suggested that members must adhere to its “one China principle” to participate. “The United States insists on the full and equal participation of all APEC member economies — including Taiwan — consistent with APEC’s guidelines, rules and established practice, as affirmed by China in its offer to host in 2026,” the unnamed spokesperson said in response to media queries about China putting a “one China” principle condition on Taiwan’s
RSS