After being declared not guilty after a years-long corruption trial, the case against former National Science Council official Shieh Ching-jyh (謝清志) is now considered closed after prosecutors on Friday said they would not appeal the sentence with the Supreme Court.
Shieh is one of the few government officials from the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration who has been charged with corruption, but finally acquitted after years of trial.
Ten defendants, including Shieh and Hsu Hung-chang (許鴻章), owner of Sheus Technologies Corp — also known as Hung Hua Engineering — were indicted in December 2006 on corruption charges after Sheus won an NT$8.05 billion (US$262 million) construction tender to reduce the vibrations caused by the high-speed rail as it passes through the Southern Taiwan Science Park.
High-tech companies with operations in the park, such as chip manufacturers, are affected by vibrations above 48 decibels.
The Tainan District Court found Shieh not guilty in August 2008, and after Tainan prosecutors appealed the ruling with the High Court’s Tainan branch, the branch again acquitted Shieh in June of 2010.
Prosecutors then appealed the case with the Supreme Court, and the top judicial authority ordered the High Court’s Tainan branch to retry the case. On July 11, the Tainan branch found Shieh not guilty for a second time. This time, prosecutors said they would not appeal the case, therefore the verdict finding Shieh innocent is final.
All rulings in the five-and-a-half years of trials found Shieh innocent because of insufficient evidence to prove his guilt.
Liu Jung-tang (劉榮堂), a spokesman for the Tainan Prosecutors’ Office, said on Friday that prosecutors had found no legal grounds to bring the case to the Supreme Court again.
Shieh, who said the charges were politically motivated to discredit the DPP administration, added that although the case was closed, the damage and insult could not be erased.
Shieh, said he would file a wrongful imprisonment compensation lawsuit.
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