The Taiwan High Court yesterday quashed a two-year sentence handed down to former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) by a lower court and acquitted her of fraud over a dual-nationality controversy.
The court said prosecutors could appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
In March 2008, a number of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers sued Lee for fraud and corruption because she maintained US citizenship while serving as a Taipei city councilor and then as a legislator. Elected officials are not allowed to hold dual citizenship.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
At the time, Lee claimed she mistakenly believed her US citizenship would automatically become invalid when she took up a public position.
In January 2009, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office received confirmation from the US Department of State that Lee’s US citizenship remained valid.
Prosecutors said that on personnel forms she filled out as a Taipei City councilor in 1994 and during her three terms as a lawmaker starting in 1998, Lee deliberately left blank a field asking whether she held citizenship from a country other than the Republic of China.
In September 2009, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Lee on charges of fraud. Prosecutors accused Lee of intentionally concealing her US citizenship during one term as a Taipei city councilor and three terms as a legislator, during which she was paid more than NT$100 million (US$3 million).
On Feb. 5 last year, the Taipei District Court found her guilty on four counts of fraud and sentenced her to two years in prison.
The Taiwan High Court’s ruling said that although Lee had dual citizenship and her elected status should have been invalidated by the Central Election Committee, the commission had maintained Lee’s elected status, which was an administrative error. Nevertheless, because Lee maintained her position as a Taipei City councilor and legislator, accepting her salary could not be seen as fraud, the ruling said.
The Taipei City Council, the commission and the legislature were obliged to examine Lee’s citizenship status during her terms as a councilor and as a legislator, but those agencies never questioned Lee about her citizenship status, and because Lee was able to keep her status, taking her salary could not be regarded as fraud, the ruling said.
Lee, daughter of former premier Lee Huan (李煥), said in a statement that she felt relieved that justice had been served.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said it was “unfair” to accuse Diane Lee of fraud since she had performed well as both a city councilor and as a legislator.
However, the DPP said the ruling went against people’s expectations and common sense.
The ruling was like a “game--fixing call,” said DPP spokesman Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄).
The public was not happy with the Taipei District Court’s ruling in the first trial because it did not charge Lee with corruption and yet yeterday’s verdict was even more shocking, he said.
Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑), another DPP spokesman, said the ruling could set a dangerous precedent because it was the first case involving public servants’ dual citizenship, which is prohibited by the Nationality Act (國籍法).
“By pronouncing Lee innocent, you’re telling public servants they do not commit a crime by holding dual citizenship, although they will be discharged from their duties, and that they don’t need to return their salaries,” Liang said. “You’re encouraging people to commit crimes and cheat.”
Lee’s argument that she thought she had lost her US citizenship the moment she was sworn in as a councilor was unsupportable because she questioned Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), then-deputy mayor of Taipei, about his dual citizenship and demanded he resign in 1995, Liang said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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
RSS