Su Chih-jen (
The court found Su guilty of fraudulently obtaining NT$7.5 million from the family of two brothers who had been remanded in custody by boasting that he could influence the judicial process using his brother's connection with Lee.
Su was also convicted of tampering with the finances of a private fund he established in June 1999.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of four years and eight months for Su, but Taipei District Court Judge Yeh Chien-ting (葉建廷), handed down a seven-year sentence.
The court found Su used the prominent position of his brother Su Chih-cheng (
"Though he did not succeed, his acts harmed the integrity of the judiciary," the judge said.
Su said yesterday he felt "surprised" at the severity of the sentence and that he would appeal after consulting with his lawyer.
A co-defendant in the case, Ho Wei-chi (
The court found that Ho introduced the family of the two men -- surnamed Yang (楊) -- to Su in early December 1999, thinking he was able to peddle influence with the judiciary on the Yangs' behalf.
Ho had told the court that the family of the two men had promised to pay Su a total of NT$15 million as a reward for securing the release of the two men and gave a down-payment of half of the amount to Su the next day.
Su later gave NT$1 million to Ho.
Su did not fulfill his promise to get the Yang brothers out of detention by Dec. 4 last year, leading the family to demand that he return the money.
* The court found Su guilty of fraudulently obtaining NT$7.5 million by falsely claiming he could influence the judiciary.
* Su was also convicted of tampering with the finances of a private fund he established in June 1999.
* Prosecutors had sought a sentence of just over four years, but the judge decided to increase the proposed sentence and gave Su seven years in prison.
The Yang brothers had been detained on the suspicion of conducting illegal stock sales and were released on bail in January this year.
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