Insisting that she was unjustly declared guilty of corruption and vowing to fight to clear her name, former minister of transportation and communications Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) bade a tearful farewell to her supporters yesterday morning as she headed off to Taoyuan Women’s Prison.
Chanting “Stop the political persecution” and “The minister is innocent,” a crowd of former colleagues and supporters greeted Kuo as she stepped out of her car to report to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office before being sent to prison.
Kuo was accused to taking an US$20,000 bribe from Nanrenhu Co (南仁湖集團) for a Taipei Railroad Station redevelopment project during her term as minister and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Photo: Lin Chun-hung, Taipei Times
“On Jan. 8, 2014, I am going into prison. This is something I’ve never thought would happen during my life as a law-abiding civil servant,” Kuo told reporters waiting outside of the prosecutors’ office.
“I believe that a lot of people still think that I actually took US$20,000 in bribes, but those who are so convinced must have not read the written verdict, and the evidence on which the judge based his sentence,” she said.
Kuo said she never confessed to the charges even though there were many media reports citing prosecutors as saying that she has admitted them.
“The judge sentenced me to eight years in prison based on the testimony that I accepted bribes given to me in tea canisters,” she said.
“If you watch the video recording of the witness’ testimony, you will see that the witness was not clear about the size or color of the cans, or what the cans were made of,” she said.
“The judge failed to track the cash flow of the so-called ‘bribe,’ and the numbers of the banknotes that the witness cited are different from banknotes found in my home,” Kuo said. “In addition, Nanrenhu never bid on the Taipei Railroad Station redevelopment project.”
However, Kuo said she has learned that a court could sentence an innocent person to eight years in prison without any hard evidence and the Supreme Court could overturn a not-guilty ruling without reviewing the evidence submitted by the defendant.
“I am going to jail, but my lawyer and my loved ones will continue to fight for my innocence,” she said.
After speaking to reporters, Kuo walked into the prosecutors’ office escorted by supporters and her former colleagues, including former deputy minister of transportation and communications Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) and former Overseas Compatriot Commission minister Chang Fu-mei (張富美).
Each gave her a hug before saying goodbye.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
SOUTH CHINA SEA? The Philippine president spoke of adding more classrooms and power plants, while skipping tensions with China over disputed areas Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday blasted “useless and crumbling” flood control projects in a state of the nation address that focused on domestic issues after a months-long feud with his vice president. Addressing a joint session of congress after days of rain that left at least 31 dead, Marcos repeated his recent warning that the nation faced a climate change-driven “new normal,” while pledging to investigate publicly funded projects that had failed. “Let’s not pretend, the people know that these projects can breed corruption. Kickbacks ... for the boys,” he said, citing houses that were “swept away” by the floods. “Someone has
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS