Senior DPP Legislator Chou Po-lun (周伯倫) has been barred from leaving the country after his appeal of a corruption conviction and six-year prison term were rejected, Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused the four-term lawmaker's request for an appeal, leaving him with few options but to serve his sentence in connection with the 15-year-old Ronghsing Park development scandal.
Chou was a Taipei city councilor when he was convicted in 1989 of taking NT$16 million (US$460,000) from a construction firm. He was found guilty of accepting a bribe in exchange for dropping his opposition to the firm's plan to turn the development into a shopping mall.
In response to Wednesday's ruling, the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office informed the Bureau of Immigration yesterday morning to bar Chou from leaving the country.
Article 6-1 of the Immigration Law (入出國及移民法) bars people sentenced to prison from leaving the country before serving their sentences.
Chou issued a press release yesterday to announce that he has already resigned his lawmaker post. He also said that he will report to prison authorities on time, but he also stressed that will apply for an "extraordinary appeal" soon.
"Chou will be sent to prison after the Lunar New Year holiday," Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
However, bureaucratic paperwork means it may take up to two months before the 47-year-old Chou has to report to prison.
In addition, the Judicial Yuan said yesterday that it will look into reasons for the unusually long 14-year period it took for the case to be resolved -- the longest involving a legislator.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS