Taipei judges jailed former Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City councilor Hsu Fu-nan (許富男) for six years on Thursday for visiting Russia using NT$1.5 million (US$50,000) in public funds in July 2005.
“The court decided on a six-year sentence for Hsu, because in addition to continuing to deny the accusation, he never apologized or expressed regret for what he did,” the verdict said.
In addition to the sentence, the judges also deprived Hsu of his civil rights for three years.
Meanwhile, Taipei City Bureau of Health Department of Planning Director Yen Yu-bin (嚴玉賓) was sentenced to two years in prison, with a one-year loss of her civil rights, but the sentence was suspended for five years as judges believed that Yen was only following a directive given by Hsu.
Both Hsu and Yen are able to appeal their sentences within 10 days of receiving their verdicts.
The verdict said that Yen felt compelled to do as Hsu had asked because councilors could make life difficult for staff members who did not fulfill their wishes.
In her defense, Yen said she carried out Hsu’s request because she “wanted to maintain a harmonious atmosphere” at the council.
In addition to Hsu and Yen, another 17 people, including councilors, officials and civilians joined the trip in 2005.
In related news, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Taitung branch passed details of its case against Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen’s (鄺麗貞) frequent foreign visits to the party’s Evaluation and Discipline Committee for further investigation.
The party decided to look into Kuang’s case after she was found to have spent more than NT$12 million (US$390,000) on foreign inspection tours since taking office two years ago.
Kuang took 10 township heads to Europe last month, despite forecasts that Typhoon Fung-wong would sweep through Taiwan from the east coast. It was her eighth foreign trip in the past two years.
After the commissioner’s behavior attracted widespread criticism from local residents and politicians across party lines, KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) asked the party’s Taitung branch to gather information and send it to the committee for further investigation.
Zuo Yi-rong (左義榮), director of the Taitung branch, said the branch had received negative comments from local residents and he urged both Kuang and the county government to enhance their crisis management capabilities.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern