The Taiwan High Court reduced the sentence of a former senior aide to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday to nine years in prison for taking bribes while serving as deputy secretary-general at the Presidential Office in 2002.
The high court also ruled that Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), 67, be deprived of his civil rights for six years.
The high court’s ruling represented a reduced sentence from the 12-year jail term and 10-year suspension of civil rights that was imposed on Chen Che-nan by the Taipei District Court in December 2006.
The high court cited evidence that Chen Che-nan accepted NT$6 million (US$197,270) from businessman Liang Po-hsun (梁柏薰) in 2002 and promised to use his job influence to settle two court cases involving Liang.
The High Court said Chen Che-nan remained unrepentant, but that it had reduced the sentence in consideration of his age.
The High Court acquitted Chen Che-nan of a separate insider trading charge involving shares of Chih Kan Technology Co.
Liang, 52, the chief witness in the case against Chen Che-nan, is a former vice chairman of the Bank of Overseas Chinese. He was sentenced by the Taiwan High Court to one year in prison in November 2002 for using his influence to borrow NT$5.3 billion illegally from several branches of the bank through dummy accounts in 1996 and 1997.
Liang was also sentenced to one year and two months in prison in a separate case in January 2003 for committing forgery in real estate deals while he was chairman of the Hsinchiehchung Construction Co.
Liang fled abroad in March 2003 shortly after he filed an appeal for a deferred prison sentence. While at large in China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Africa, he said that Chen Che-nan had accepted NT$6 million from him but had failed to fulfill his promises.
In an apparent attempt to stem Liang’s anger, Chen Che-nan later returned NT$3 million to Liang via a friend, but Liang said he wanted the full amount returned.
Liang was brought to justice after he returned to Taiwan from Hong Kong in April 2006.
He voluntarily submitted evidence to prosecutors to prove that Chen Che-nan had accepted two checks totaling NT$6 million from him.
Chen Che-nan can still appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS