The Taiwan High Court’s Kaohsiung branch yesterday reversed a lower court verdict, finding all five defendants in a 2013 pollution case involving Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) not guilty on various charges related to discharging wastewater from the company’s K7 plant into the Houjing River (後勁溪).
The court acquitted four ASE executives and employees of all charges, including K7 plant general manager Su Ping-shou (蘇炳碩), plant wastewater section director Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡奇勳) and two wastewater section engineers — Yu Chih-hsien (游志賢) and Liu Wei-cheng (劉威呈).
Yesterday’s second ruling in the ongoing trial also cleared ASE of charges, meaning the company does not have to pay a NT$3 million (US$90,901) fine imposed by the Kaohsiung District Court in the first ruling on Oct. 20 last year.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
In the first ruling, the court found the four defendants guilty, but gave suspended sentences ranging from 16 months to 22 months, related to breaches of the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).
Prosecutors appealed to the higher court at that time, saying the punishments were too lenient, as suspended sentences meant none of the defendants had to serve jail terms.
Another ASE K7 plant engineer, Ho Teng-yang (何登陽), who was found not guilty in last year’s ruling, had his verdict upheld by the high court.
ASE, said to be world’s largest IC packaging company, was accused of dumping industrial wastewater containing carcinogenic compounds and other toxic substances in the Houjing River after reports of discoloration and suspected pollution in October 2013.
Yesterday’s ruling was based on the judge’s belief that ASE had treated the wastewater and waste sludge differently, and that if any violations had occurred, they would be of the Water Pollution Control Act (水污染防治法).
The wastewater in question was not “hazardous industrial waste,” so the first ruling was wrong to have cited violations of the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), yesterday’s ruling said.
The ruling said that Water Pollution Control Act laws regarding the discharge of toxic wastewater by businesses were only amended in February, and therefore a punishment cannot be meted out for a case from 2013.
The ruling also said that ASE employees had added extra amounts of alkaline liquid into wastewater to neutralize its acidity on the day pollution levels were recorded (Oct. 1, 2013), with pH levels shown to have returned to legal discharge standards by 8pm that night.
“Although there were shortcomings on that day’s processing and treatment of wastewater, it was not done deliberately, nor was it done in a haphazard way... Therefore, there were flaws in the first ruling,” it said.
It also said that prosecutors provided only one fish specimen and one sample from the riverbed as evidence of pollution, without presenting samples from other locations, or samples from preceding and subsequent times for comparison, adding that as reasonable doubt remains, the defendants should be acquitted of the charges.
The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office said it would decide whether to appeal the case after reviewing the ruling.
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS