The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence for Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) for spending millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money at hostess bars and KTV lounges.
Yen, who was sentenced for misusing public funds during his term as Taichung County Council speaker, is expected to start serving his prison sentence soon and will lose his seat in the legislature. His civil rights have been suspended for three years.
Independent Greater Taichung Council Speaker Chang Ching-tang (張清堂), who was Yen’s vice speaker in the Taichung County Council at the time, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for three years.
Tsai Wen-hsiung (蔡文雄), Yen’s former secretary, received six-and-a-half years and had his civil rights suspended for four years.
Although Yen and Chang are independent politicians, they are deemed close to the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and their imprisonment could have an impact on Greater Taichung politics. Two by-elections are to be held to fill Yen’s legislative seat and Chang’s council speakership.
The Taiwan High Court ruled that the trio were guilty in September last year.
The Supreme Court said Yen and Chang had returned NT$20.55 million (US$687,000) in misused public funds to state coffers. As a result, the Taiwan High Court handed out reduced sentences.
The court found Yen, Chang and Tsai guilty of spending council funds between 1998 and 2000 to cover their expenditures at hostess bars and KTV lounges in then-Taichung City. According to the ruling, the trio used more than NT$20 million of council money and still owe various hostess bars about NT$10 million.
Yen, chairman of Chenlan Temple, spent three-and-a-half years in Green Island’s maximum-security prison after a crackdown on organized crime in 1986. His participation in local politics began soon after he was released.
Speaking of the decision, Deputy Minister of the Interior Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) told a press conference that the sentence against Yen would take effect immediately and he would be stripped of his status as a lawmaker when the Ministry of the Interior receives the written sentence from the court.
“When we receive the written sentence, we will refer it to the Presidential Office, and the president, who would then officially announce the removal of Yen from the post of legislator,” Chien said. “At the same time, we will also inform the Central Election Commission to hold a by-election to fill the post that will be left open by Yen in three months.”
Chien said that while the deprivation of civil rights takes effect immediately, the three-year suspension period would start only after he finishes serving the jail term.
In a press statement, Yen said he had consulted Taipei County Council’s accounting director and chief secretary on how to handle the money and had no intention of committing corruption.
He said he respects the rule of law, but would continue to seek legal means to clear himself.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS