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
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
RSS