The High Court yesterday sentenced Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) to two years in prison for paying bribes to secure contracts in three housing construction projects, with the sentence suspended for five years.
The suspended sentence means Chao does not have to serve jail time, but he was ordered to pay a fine of NT$200 million (US$6.1 million) and had his civil rights stripped for two years.
The verdict was final and cannot be appealed.
Photo: CNA
However, the same ruling lengthened the prison term for former Taoyuan County deputy commissioner Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文) to 21 years and levied a fine of NT$10 million.
Yeh can still appeal.
The judges cited Chao admitting his crime and pleading guilty to all charges during an extra hearing on the public housing project bribery case at the court on Dec. 10.
In the first ruling by the Taipei District Court in March, Chao was sentenced to four years and six months in prison, while Yeh received a 19-year jail term.
After the verdict, Chao issued a statement through a company spokesman thanking the court for giving him an opportunity for rehabilitation, saying that he has learned from his mistakes and will do good.
Local media reports said Yeh was surprised when Chao pleaded guilty to all charges earlier this month, with Chao turning state witness against Yeh.
Critics said that Chao and his legal team won over the judges with a plea bargain ploy, pleading guilty and asking for leniency, and admitting to having paid bribes to Yeh and other officials for Farglory to secure contracts to build public housing units in New Taipei City and then-Taoyuan County.
The High Court’s verdict has caused a public furor, as many feel that the judicial system favors the wealthy, but severely punishes ordinary people.
Criticism has primarily focused on Chao getting off with a light penalty and not having to serve jail time, despite being found guilty of corruption.
Supreme Prosecutors’ Office officials issued a statement saying that they were “speechless” when they learned of the verdict.
The statement said the office cautioned against leniency and a suspended sentence for Chao.
“Throughout most of the trial, Chao did not admit his guilt. He did so only to take advantage of the situation,” it said.
“The process has been a significant waste of the judiciary’s precious resources,” it said.
Additional reporting by CNA
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS