Chinese Petroleum officials convicted on bribery charge

The Taipei District Court yesterday found two high-ranking officials from state-run Chinese Petroleum Corp guilty of accepting more than NT$15 million in bribes from a private contractor.

The court sentenced Lee Ching-jung (李慶榮), the company's vice president, to 15 years in prison for the cash-for-favors scandal.

Lee was the head of China Petroleum's Kaohsiung Refinery between 1989 and 1995.

Chen Wen-hsiung (陳文雄), deputy of the management department of the Kaohsiung Refinery, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Chen was in charge of purchasing petroleum additives for the refinery.

The court found Lee Ching-chuan (李清泉), who runs a chain of stores that sell additives and environmental products, met Chen when he gave NT$4,000 as a gift at the funeral of Chen's father.

To win orders from China Petroleum, the businessman and his wife gave bribes to the two officials starting in 1989.

That year, Lee Ching-chuan's revenues increased dramatically to more NT$46 million from just NT$200,000 the previous year.

In the following six years, Lee's business boomed as he secured orders from China Pe-troleum with the help of company insiders.

The court found that the two officials had assisted Lee Ching-chuan by revealing bottom-line bid prices and then awarding him the orders.

The court said that China Petroleum's vice president had received a total of NT$12 million in bribes from the businessman, while Chen had taken more than NT$3 million.

In handing down its verdicts against the two, the court also ordered the recovery of the bribes.

According to the court, China Petroleum's vice president and his wife Chuang Huei-mei (莊惠美) wanted to buy a house for their children in the US in 1990.

Lee Ching-chuan had given Chuang a check for US$400,000 in exchange for favors from her husband.

The court yesterday sentenced Lee Ching-chuan to more than six years in prison on charges of bribery and forgery. His wife received two years as an accomplice.