Kaohsiung District Court yesterday cleared former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) of corruption relating to the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal.
"Prosecutors had no way to prove that the hospitality Chen Che-nan received was related to his position. As a result, we decided to drop all the charges against him," said presiding Judge Tseng Yi-cheng (曾逸成), when reading the verdict in court yesterday.
Prosecutors alleged that Chen helped Huapan Co, the firm in charge of hiring and managing Thai laborers working on Kaohsiung's MRT construction project, in return for vacations.
Kaohsiung prosecutors accused Chen of accepting all-expense paid trips to Thailand, Vietnam and South Korea, as well as "entertainment" paid for by the firm in return for his help in winning contracts for the MRT project.
The case came to light after Thai workers rioted on Aug. 21, 2005 in protest over working conditions.
On Nov. 21, 2005, Kaohsiung Prosecutor Ho Chin-tung (
Huapan general manager Yen Shih-hua (嚴世華) and his wife Wang Tsai-pi (王彩碧) were sentenced to 42 months and four years in jail respectively for receiving kickbacks from Thai workers and several Thai labor brokerages.
After the verdict, Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office Spokesman Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝) said that he was not surprised by the outcome.
"Actually, before we even submitted the case to the court, I had a strong feeling that our evidence might not be sufficient to persuade the judges," Chung said.
Prosecutors would meet to discuss whether to appeal after they had read the verdict, he said.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (
She said Chen was also allegedly involved in other cases, and urged prosecutors to conduct thorough investigations into them.
KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩), who was also at the conference, said the ruling was surprising because prosecutors had submitted "clear evidence" against Chen.
Lei said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's campaign team should avoiding gloating because the verdict did not necessarily clear Hsieh of his alleged involvement in cases related to the KRTC scandal.
When asked for comment, DPP caucus deputy secretary-general Wang Shu-hui (
Wang said the evidence against Chen was "weak," adding that prosecutors had only sought a severe punishment because Chen was former deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office.
Additional reporting Flora Wang
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS