A total of eight former and incumbent lawmakers across party lines were found guilty by the Taiwan High Court in a second trial yesterday for accepting bribes from the National Chinese Herbal Apothecary Association in 1998, and all were given sentences of at least seven years.
Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hsu Shu-po (許舒博) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) were sentenced to seven years and six months in prison.
Their civil rights were also suspended for four years and they must each return the NT$1 million (US$30,000) they respectively took from the association.
Former DPP legislator Chiu Chui-chen (邱垂貞) received a 10-year sentence, his civil rights were suspended for eight years and he must return NT$10 million, said the verdict, which also sentenced former KMT legislator Liao Fu-peng (廖福本) to eight years and six months in prison, suspended his civil rights for six years and required him to return NT$6 million in bribes.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Former DPP legislators Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) and Lin Kuang-hua (林光華) both received eight-year sentences and civil rights suspensions of five years.
They must return NT$2 million each.
Former People First Party legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) was sentenced to seven years and two months in prison, with a suspension of civil rights for three years, and must return a NT$450,000 bribe.
Former KMT legislator Cheng Horng-chi (陳鴻基) was sentenced to seven years in prison, was deprived of his civil rights for three years and must return NT$300,000 in bribes.
In the first trial, only Chiu and Liao were found guilty of accepting bribes.
The eight can appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
Yesterday’s ruling said the lawmakers and former lawmakers all accepted bribes from the National Chinese Herbal Apothecary Association in 1996 in return for their endorsement of an amendment to Article 103 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) that would restore the right of herbalists to issue medical prescriptions.
The association paid a total of NT$40 million to the lawmakers under the guise of “sponsor funds,” the ruling said.
The amendment was passed in May 1998.
The ruling said the court identified the “sponsor funds” as bribes and convicted the eight of accepting them.
UNACCEPTABLE
Chiu, who received the heaviest sentence, yesterday said that he found the ruling unacceptable.
The money was a political donation, not a bribe, he said.
Noting a recent spate of corruption scandals involving judges, Chiu said he suspected the court had handed out heavy sentences in an attempt to restore some of the authority of the judiciary.
“Are judges crazy?” he said, adding that he would definitely appeal the case.
Jao, Lin and Hsu also protested their innocence, while Lee, Feng and Chen were unavailable for comment. Liao is currently serving time for a separate forgery case.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from