Former Nantou County commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Nantou District Court yesterday.
The court also found Lee’s brother-in-law, Chien Jui-chi (簡瑞祺), guilty of distributing illicit funds and sentenced him to 22 years in prison.
The ruling, which concluded a more than two-year-long judicial probe, saw Lee and Chien convicted of graft, receiving kickbacks and bid-rigging from 2008 to 2012, when Lee was head of the Nantou County Government.
Photo: Chen Feng-li, Taipei Times
There were also guilty verdicts for 13 other county government officials and business associates involved in the corruption scandal, who were given terms ranging from three months to six years, some with suspended sentences, for benefiting from illicit funds.
Yesterday’s court decision was the first ruling and can be appealed.
Lee’s lawyer said he was surprised by the court’s verdict and heavy sentencing, adding that he would file an appeal.
According to the ruling, Lee was found to have received at least NT$31.73 million (US$967,083) from contractors and business companies in bribes and kickbacks related to 111 projects, involving road construction, bridge repair and county government-initiated public infrastructure construction and upgrade works throughout Nantou County.
The ruling said that the county’s mountainous regions suffered major damage to roads and bridges after landslides and flooding during storms and periods of heavy rain, adding that Lee, as head of the county government, did not apply for repair and construction projects, but instead siphoned off money and made illegal gains from such projects.
The court said it handed out heavy punishments because Lee did not admit his involvement, instructing other defendants to make denials and fabricate information.
At the time of indictment in 2013, prosecutors said Lee was suspected of receiving kickbacks of between 10 percent and 15 percent from almost every county government project since assuming office in 2008.
The judicial probe found other county government officials colluded with Lee and Chien by forging documents and initiating bid-rigging practices for designated contractors to secure tender bids, while also receiving bribes and kickbacks.
Among the officials were Lee’s former secretary Chang Chih-yi (張志誼) and two former Nantou County Department of Public Works heads, Tseng Jen-lung (曾仁隆) and Huang Jung-te (黃榮德).
Tseng was given a six-year sentence, while Chang and Huang received suspended sentences, as both admitted their roles in the corruption scandal and co-operated with prosecutors during the judicial probe.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
RSS