Former Bureau of Investigation director-general Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂) was sentenced to 16 months in prison for concealing government documents and was banned from leaving the country.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed down the final ruling after rejecting an appeal of a High Court decision last year to reduce Yeh’s prison sentence from three years and nine months to 16 months.
Yeh was convicted of concealing confidential information about irregularities involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who has been jailed for corruption.
According to the court document, Yeh was found to have withheld confidential information provided by the Egmond Group of Financial Intelligence Units in December 2006 and other relevant information in January 2008, which were all related to suspected money-laundering overseas by Chen’s family.
Yeh was found to have not only concealed the documents, but also leaked the information to Chen, the court said.
In addition, Yeh was found to have leaked information to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in April 2008 during an investigation into Ker’s alleged involvement in an illegal mining operation in Hualien County, the court document said.
In the first trial of the case in 2008, Yeh was convicted on charges of profiteering and sentenced to eight years and six months in prison. He was also given a sentence of two years and six months in prison for leaking confidential information. The two sentences were later combined into a 10-year prison term.
In 2011 when the case was brought to the High Court, the profiteering charge was withdrawn and Yeh was sentenced to three years and six months in prison for concealing government documents.
In July 2011, Yeh began serving his 30-month prison term for leaking confidential information and was released on parole in September last year.
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