President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday approved the resignation of Fan Chen-chung (范振宗), one of his advisers, the Presidential Office said.
Fan, who was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail earlier in the day by the Hsinchu District Court on charges of corruption dating to his tenure as Hsinchu councilor between 1989 and 1997, offered to resign as an adviser to the president last Friday, Presidential spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.
Fan was convicted of offering illegal profits to businessmen by allowing them to use a marketplace for other commercial uses.
Fan, formerly a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was appointed by former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as Council of Agriculture minister in 2000. He quit the DPP last year.
Fan denied the charges and said he would appeal his conviction.
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