Prosecutors yesterday requested a life sentence for former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) who has been charged with corruption.
Lin has been accused of demanding bribes from Ti Yung Co (地勇選礦公司) owner Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥), pocketing about NT$60 million (US$2.02 million) in bribes, concealing illicit gains and having unaccounted-for assets.
At Lin’s final hearing yesterday, prosecutors said that not only had he abused his position as Executive Yuan secretary-general to demand bribes for personal gains, he had also been recalcitrant during the trial process and still refused to admit all of his wrongdoings, which is why they recommended he be imprisoned for life. They also recommended a NT$30 million fine.
Prosecutors say Lin’s mother, Shen Juo-lan (沈若蘭), was an accomplice and requested that she be given a 10-year term for her role in Lin’s corruption, as well as a one-and-a-half-year sentence on a separate money laundering charge.
The prosecutors also urged the court to hand down a heavy punishment to Shen Huan-chang (沈煥璋) and Shen Huan-yao (沈煥瑤), Lin’s maternal uncles, for their involvement in the case.
The prosecutors did not ask for Lin’s wife, Peng Ai-chia (彭愛佳), to be sentenced.
The verdict will be handed down on April 30.
At the hearing yesterday, Lin continued to proclaim his innocence, but said: “Morally, I am already a prisoner.”
While expressing regret for taking money from Chen, Lin and Peng said they did not use the money to enhance their personal wealth and prestige, adding: “In the local districts, we were derided for belonging to a ‘beggars gang.’”
“Just because he made one mistake, you cannot make him out to be Osama bin Laden,” Peng said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
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