The Taiwan High Court yesterday agreed with a lower court in finding two former officials not guilty of defrauding the government of US$500,000 of secret diplomatic funds used to promote diplomatic relations.
The court maintained that former National Security Council secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and former deputy minister of foreign affairs Michael Kau (高英茂) did not pocket the funds.
On hearing the verdict, Chiou’s lawyer, Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠), said his client had been vindicated by acquittals in two trials.
The process also showed that “there could be malfeasance on the part of Special Investigation Division [SID] of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office,” the lawyer said.
Kao said Chiou was detained for 50 days while the case was investigated and if he was ultimately found not guilty, he would seek national compensation for wrongful detention.
The prosecutors can still appeal the High Court’s verdict if they feel it did not properly apply the law.
In their indictment, SID prosecutors alleged that irregularities occurred in relation to a diplomatic initiative launched in 2004 by the then-Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration, dubbed “An Ya.”
The initiative, taken after Taiwan joined the WTO, hoped to enlist the support of then-WTO secretary-general Supachai Panitchpakdi in blocking China from forcing Taiwan to adopt any designation at the WTO that would imply a downgrading of its sovereign status, they said.
The prosecutors said Chiou instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to allocate US$500,000 to the project, but that he then kept the money for himself.
Kau was indicted on similar charges for directing the ministry to issue traveler’s checks for the same amount.
In the two former officials’ first trial, Taipei District Court judges found that the initiative was a collaboration between the National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was not decided by Chiou alone.
According to the testimony of witnesses, the traveler’s checks were cashed and signed by the representatives of the intended beneficiary and not Chiou, a statement with which the district court agreed.
The High Court upheld the district court’s findings, but it did not offer any public explanation yesterday to back its ruling.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS