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.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique