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 Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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