Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Kaohsiung Legislator Hsu Chih-ming (
Hsu was convicted by the Supreme Court Thursday for accepting illegal kickbacks of NT$3.95 million (US$120,000) from swimming pool builders when he was the head of Kaohsiung County's Daliao (大寮) Township in 1994.
The Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung Branch sentenced him to 12 years in jail on May 2, 2003. Hsu appealed to the Supreme Court, but his appeal was eventually declined on Thursday.
PHOTO: FANG CHIH-HSIAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court decided to maintain his 12-year sentence, saying that he also has to return the NT$3.95 million in kickbacks.
At a press conference which he held at his house in Daliao yesterday morning, Hsu said he would file a request for extraordinary appeal.
"I hereby request judges to name witnesses and sufficient evidence, such as the person who paid me the kickbacks or any witness of the entire process. If not, how can they [judges] simply send me to jail like this?" Hsu asked.
When Hsu's appeal was declined, Kaohsiung Chief Prosecutor Hsiao Po-wen (
In addition to informing Hsu of when he had to report to jail, Hsiao and several police officers decided to remain and escort Hsu to Kaohsiung Prison after his press conference yesterday morning.
Since Hsu's conviction was upheld, his position at the legislature was also immediately revoked.
The DPP yesterday also decided to suspend his membership. Also, by law, Hsu will not be able to accept any government positions or run in any elections in the future, because he has been convicted in a bribery case.
"This verdict is not persuasive," Hsu said. "I dare to say that I have never accepted any bribes during my 20 years of service. This is not difficult to be investigated."
"I respect justice. But I will not accept it if I've been framed," he added.
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS