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
‘ASSERTIVE STEPS’: The report says that the US should enable Taiwan to construct asymmetric defense capabilities that would allow it to engage China on its own terms US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday declassified a report that casts the defense of Taiwan as critical to the Indo-Pacific strategy of checking China’s ascent, Bloomberg reported yesterday. “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” has governed the US’ strategic response to China since Trump approved it in February 2018, Bloomberg reported, citing a statement by US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien. “Beijing is increasingly pressuring Indo-Pacific nations to subordinate their freedom and sovereignty to a ‘common destiny’ envisioned by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” O’Brien was cited as saying. The report assumes that China would “take increasingly assertive steps to compel unification
SECRET OUT: Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung yesterday accidentally revealed that the infections occurred at the ministry’s Taoyuan General Hospital The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the fifth COVID-19 case in a cluster infection at a Taoyuan hospital, where four other medical workers were confirmed to have been infected over the past week. The latest case is a nurse who had tested negative on Tuesday last week, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, told a news conference. However, on Thursday, she developed symptoms, such as nasal congestion and a cough, and a second test yesterday found that she was infected, Chen said. She is the head nurse of a ward where two
PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY: US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft posted online after the virtual meeting that Taiwan should be able to share its successes in global venues President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft yesterday held a virtual meeting, during which Tsai described Taiwan as a “force for good” that deserves a place on the world stage, while Craft reaffirmed Washington’s support for Taiwan’s international participation. The virtual talk was held at about 11am, after Craft’s trip to Taiwan was abruptly canceled. She had been scheduled to meet with Tsai in person at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday morning as part of a three-day visit to Taiwan. On Tuesday, the US Department of State canceled all of its planned trips, citing a need
‘CONTAINED’: The CECC is not considering locking down the hospital where the infections were detected, as their source has been found, Chen Shih-chung said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported one new domestic COVID-19 case, a doctor at a hospital in northern Taiwan where three other medical workers were confirmed to have the disease over the past week. The new case — No. 856 — is a doctor who had treated a COVID-19 patient together with case No. 838, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. Case No. 838, confirmed as a locally infected COVID-19 case on Tuesday, was the first case in the hospital cluster, and later infected his partner, who is a nurse at the same