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.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
RSS