The Taipei District Court yesterday acquitted former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in a case in which he was charged with embezzling state funds.
Lee’s aide, Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英), was sentenced to two years, eight months on charges of embezzlement of public property and deprived of his civil rights for three years, the ruling said.
The Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on June 30, 2011, indicted Lee and Liu, accusing them of siphoning off US$7.8 million in secret diplomatic funds to set up the Taiwan Research Institute.
The district court said there was no evidence that showed Lee knew where the diplomatic funds went and that he was involved in the matter.
It added that Liu was in charge of embezzling the funds to establish the Taiwan Research Institute, but since none of the funds went to Liu and the institute had returned the money to the government, the court handed Liu a lenient sentence.
Liu could appeal the ruling with the Taiwan High Court, it added.
Lee’s lawyer, Wellington Koo (顧立雄), said that Lee’s indictment had been unreasonable.
The evidence presented in Lee’s indictment was identical to that in the case against former National Security Bureau chief accountant Hsu Ping-chiang (徐炳強). Hsu was found not guilty, so there was no reason to indict Lee for the same offense, Koo added.
Koo said the trial had been “torture” for 90-year-old Lee, adding he hoped the SID would not waste legal resources by appealing the case to the high court.
The SID said it would decide whether to appeal the case after studying the ruling.
The trial was held behind closed doors because the proceedings contained discussions of sensitive national security issues. The ruling document is also classified.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he