Prosecutors yesterday appealed a Taipei District Court ruling the day before to release several defendants involved in a graft case, including two senior judges, on bail.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP) said that with solid evidence against the two former Taiwan High Court judges — Chen Jung-ho (陳榮和) and Tsai Kuang-chih (蔡光治) — it believed the two would face steep sentences.
“If the two are released, they can collaborate with others and jump bail. If they are to flee the country, it will be difficult to carry on the trial or implement the sentence, thus seriously compromising judicial authority,” the SIP said.
The Taipei District Court said on Thursday that although the key defendant in the case, former Miaoli County commissioner Ho Chih-hui (何智輝), was hiding overseas and had yet to face trial, this could not be used as a justification for detaining the defendants.
Both Chen and Tsai were granted a NT$2 million (US$69,000) bail, while three others, lawyer Chiu Chuang-hsun (邱創舜), his wife Duan Mei-yueh (段美月) and Tsai’s girlfriend Huang Lai Jui-jen (黃賴瑞珍), were released on bail ranging from NT$600,000 to NT$1.5 million on Thursday.
Although the five were released, the court barred them from leaving the country and set the next hearing for Feb. 10.
The case involving Chen, Tsai and a prosecutor is considered the worst graft scandal to involve senior members of Taiwan’s judiciary in years.
Prosecutors indicted 13 individuals in two separate cases in November, seeking a jail term of 24 years and a fine of NT$1.5 million for Tsai, who is accused of taking bribes in a corruption case against Ho.
They asked for 18 years and a NT$1.5 million fine for Chen and 11 years and a NT$2 million fine for High Court judge Lee Chun-ti (李春地), both of whom were charged with graft.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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