The Taiwan High Court yesterday dropped all charges in the corruption trial against former independent legislator Lo Fu-chu (羅福助).
“There is insufficient evidence to prove that [Lo] forged documents or violated the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) or the Business Accounting Law (商業會計法),” the verdict read.
However, Lin Chin-yuan (林錦源) — the Lo family’s longtime financial manager — was sentenced to three years and two months in prison and fined NT$10 million (US$330,000) for violating the Business Accounting Law and Securities and Exchange Act.
At press time, prosecutors had yet to decide whether to appeal the verdict.
Taipei prosecutors indicted Lo on June 7, 2002, on charges of corruption, fraud, breach of trust, usury, forgery and misappropriation of funds, and asked for a 30-year prison sentence.
Shortly before Lo’s indictment, then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had issued a call to “eradicate black gold politics and put the most notorious gangster in northern Taiwan behind bars.”
The indictment said that Lo illegally embezzled and pocketed more than NT$1.3 billion by taking advantage of his position as a lawmaker and worked with local gangsters for years to blackmail businesspeople in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.
Prosecutors also presented proof that Lo evaded taxes.
Prosecutors indicted 24 other people in the case involving Lo and Lin. High court judges sentenced them to between one and three months in jail yesterday.
The 30-year sentence was overturned by the Taipei District Court after the first trial on Sept. 25, 2003, reducing it to just four years.
On April 27, 2006, high court judges decreased it again to three years and nine months.
High court judges began a retrial after the Supreme Court granted Lo’s appeal, but decided to drop all charges against him yesterday.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
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