The Supreme Court upheld an eight-year prison sentence against former minister of transportation and communications Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪) on corruption charges in a final ruling on Thursday.
The court also stripped Kuo of her civil rights for four years in a ruling that upheld a conviction by the Taiwan High Court in March.
Kuo was convicted of bribery related to using her position as transportation minister to grant favors in 2006 to the Nan Ren Hu Group, a service industry conglomerate.
Within one month of accepting a bribe from Nan Ren Hu chairman Lee Ching-po (李清波), Kuo asked the Taiwan Railways Administration to hear a second presentation on a tender for a renovation and shop rental project, according to the court verdict.
In 2007, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Kuo on corruption charges, saying she had accepted a cash bribe of US$20,000, which was delivered to her in a tea gift box, in exchange for helping the Nan Ren Hu group secure a contract on the railway station project.
In court trials in 2009 and 2010, she was acquitted of the charges on the grounds that although she had pocketed the money from Nan Ren Hu, she had not given any concrete directives on the tender or attempted to influence the bidding process. The Nan Ren Hu group did not take part in the bidding in the end, the lower courts ruled.
However, prosecutors appealed the decisions and obtained a High Court conviction earlier this year.
Kuo’s case followed a similar ruling against another former government official.
Kuo’s lawyer, Wellington Koo (顧立雄), said yesterday that Kuo was very frustrated upon learning of the ruling.
Since “inconsistent testimony” made by Lee Tsung-hsien (李宗賢), son of Nan Ren Hu Group chairman Lee Ching-po (李清波), became a key piece of evidence to convict Kuo, she might file a lawsuit accusing the younger Lee of perjury, Koo added.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the party believed Kuo was not guilty and said the judiciary had a history of repressing the DPP administration’s former government officials.
In response, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Yang Wei-chun (楊偉中) asked the DPP not to “bully” the judiciary.
On Nov. 28, the Supreme Court also upheld a prison sentence of 12 years and six months against former vice minister of the interior Yen Wan-ching (顏萬進), who was convicted of corruption.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all