Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate Cheng Yun-peng (
"My next summons will be on Nov. 29 in Tainan, and I will attend that hearing on time and in person," Cheng said.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (
"What he did was for democracy, and we are all proud of him," Lee said. "We will do whatever it takes to help him whenever necessary."
Cheng is involved in an election-related case, in which he allegedly used his position as the then-director-general of the DPP's Culture and Information Department to defame a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan City mayoral candidate in 2001.
During the mayoral election, the KMT's Chen Jung-sheng (
Chen then filed the lawsuit against Cheng on charge of "trying to defeat an opponent's campaign through defamation."
During the first hearing at the Tainan District Court on Feb. 8, 2002, Judge Chien Hui-chuan (
At the Taiwan High Court Tainan branch on Feb. 24 this year, Judge Cheng Wen-su (
On July 22, Supreme Court Judge and Spokesman Chi Chun-chien (紀俊乾) decided to drop the High Court's sentence against Cheng Yun-peng and asked the court to rehear the case.
"Before the final verdict is handed down, I am innocent and a free man. And, I believe that the courts will prove me innocent, no matter what," Cheng Yun-peng said.
In addition to Cheng Yun-peng, among this year's 386 legislative candidates, 17 of them are currently in legal trouble. Three of them are DPP members, three People First Party (PFP) members, two KMTs, one Taiwan Solidarity Union and nine independent candidates.
Among these 18 legislative candidates, independent candidates Yen Ching-piao (
YEN CHING-PIAO
On Aug. 31 this year, Taiwan High Court Taichung Branch ruled that Yen Ching-piao must serve 13 years in jail and pay back NT$35 million in public funds he used to cover expenditures at hostess bars and KTV lounges.
Yen was charged with corruption, attempted murder, possession of illegal firearms and attempting to pervert the course of justice. He was first sentenced to 20 years by the Taichung District Court in 2001.
In 2002, the High Court reduced his sentence to 11 years and six months in prison. The Supreme Court upheld Yen's appeal and asked the High Court to rehear the case. The verdict on Aug. 31 was the result, but Yen appealed again.
LIN PIN-KUN
Lin was involved in a bribery scandal regarding the procurement of a wastewater purifying processor for the Chinese Petro-leum Corp in Kaohsiung. He allegedly accepted a NT$160 million kickback from the manufacturer and was sentenced to 13 years in jail by the Taiwan High Court in 1998.
Supreme Court Judge Hsieh Chia-he (
HSU CHIH-MING
Hsu was alleged to have accepted illegal kickbacks of NT$3.95 million from swimming pool constructors when he was the head of Kaohsiung County's Da-liao Township in 1994.
The Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung branch sentenced him to 12 years in jail on May 2 last year. Hsu appealed to the Supreme Court and his appeal was granted. The case is waiting to be reheard at the High Court.
FU KUN-CHI
On May 1 last year Fu was sentenced to six years in jail with a fine of NT$35 million by the Taipei District Court, because he illegally speculated in Taiwan Pineapple Group's stocks in 1998. Fu appealed as well, and the case is pending at the High Court.
HO CHIH-HUI
As for Ho, Taipei prosecutors indicted him on charges of corruption, theft and breach of trust and recommended an 18-year sentence. Ho allegedly filed a loan application at the Hsinchu Com-mercial Bank in 1995 while he was still Miaoli County commissioner because his wife was campaigning for the legislature and needed more funds.
The bank allegedly approved his application and paid him NT$300 million, although Ho's credit rating did not qualify him for such a loan.
In 1997, Ho again took advantage of his position to allegedly approve a construction proposal by the Chiuchun Development Co, although the company failed to propose a complete environmental protection plan for the project in Miaoli County. Prosecutors claim that Ho received a bribe of NT$320 million from the company.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
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