Lawyers representing former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) appealed to the High Court for a retrial of the Longtan case on the grounds that Tsai Ming-che (蔡銘哲) was a “tainted witness” after admitting withholding information from his testimony.
Chen is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence on charges of corruption.
According to the third ruling on the Longtan case, Taiwan Cement Corp chairman Leslie Koo (辜成允) had given NT$300 million (US$10 million) to former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) as a bribe. In return the Hsinchu Science Park would buy the company’s land in Longtan (龍潭), Taoyuan County. Chen and Wu were both sentenced to 11 years imprisonment.
As the Longtan case was the heaviest sentence Chen received to date, his lawyers were anxious to use the chance to decrease the length of the sentence of the Longtan ruling as other cases Chen was involved in are still under trial.
Chen is also indicted in the second financial reform case, the president’s special state affairs funds, the fake testimony case and the violation of Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保法) case.
Chen’s lawyers Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文龍), Hung Kuei-tsan (洪貴參) and Shih Yi-lin (石宜琳) alleged that Special Investigation Division (SID) prosecutors’ 2008 secret visit to Japan was made to offer Chinatrust Charity Foundation chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) immunity from prosecution in exchange for Jeffrey Koo Jr’s testimony in Chen’s case.
Alleging that the SID prosecutors had told Jeffrey Koo Jr what to say, the attorneys added that Tsai’s admission that he had withheld information in this 2001 testimony gave legal grounds for an appeal or retrial.
The admission was enough to disqualify all of Tsai’s statements made in the Longtan case making him a “tainted witness,” Cheng said.
Cheng pointed out that former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng’s (馬永成) concluded that Chen knew about the case “through his own conjecture” and there was a lack of facts supporting that supposition.
There was an error on the court’s side in recognition of facts, Cheng said.
Shih also said that though there was no time limit to appeal for a retrial, it was not until Chen’s recent hospitalization that lawyers had the chance to discuss the case with him.
Chen was recently hospitalized in Taipei Veterans General Hospital after a comprehensive checkup showed that he suffers from chronic severe depression and an anxiety disorder.
“We were hesitant about making the appeal for fear that the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration would interfere, but we felt that we had to publicize these acts of injustice,” Cheng said.
The law states that it is possible for the defendant to make an extraordinary appeal if the court’s ruling goes against the law after the ruling is made, after which the defendant may ask for a retrial after the court acknowledges there is a discrepancy in facts.
Cheng said that the defendants would be appealing for a retrial first because “there wouldn’t be any possibility” that a extraordinary appeal would be passed as the prosecution would bow to politics under the leadership of Prosecutor General Huang Shyh-ming (黃世銘).
In related developments, the High Court yesterday added one year to Chen’s jail sentences, bringing the duration of his incarceration to 18-and-a-half years for his involvement in the Longtan case and the bribery case involving former Taipei 101 chief executive Diana Chen (陳敏薰).
In its ruling, the High Court said that in additon to serving 18-and-a-half years in jail, he would also have to pay a cumulative fine of NT$156 million, which can be commuted to community service.
Additional reporting by Jake Chung and CNA
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS