The Taichung District Court on Friday sentenced former Taiwan High Court Greater Taichung branch judge Hu Ching-pin (胡景彬) to 18 years in prison after finding him guilty of accepting bribes and other corruption offenses.
Hu was arrested in August last year and indicted in December after a three-year investigation.
The court found Hu guilty of “accepting bribes to influence the action of officials in the discharge of their public duties and powers,” and “the crime of a government employee holding many unaccounted for property assets.”
Hu, 63, abused his position to solicit bribes for issuing favorable verdicts on litigation, the district court’s judgement said.
Investigators said Hu had at least NT$300 million (US$9.84 million) worth of properties and other assets that were divvied up and registered under the names of three women: his wife, surnamed Wang (王), and two women officials described as mistresses, surnamed Chung (鍾) and Huang (黃).
Hu’s case first came to light when prosecutors in 2009 received a complaint alleging that he solicited bribes while presiding over a case.
Since then, prosecutors said they found that he had acquired four properties and other assets with a total value of NT$40 million that he had not reported as required.
Prosecutors said that Hu registered the properties under the names of his wife and two mistresses.
Prosecutors said that most of Hu’s illegal acquisitions were channeled through a friend surnamed Liao (廖), whom they described as the “white glove” for dealing with litigants to seek bribery payments.
Hu also frequently had sex with nightclub hostesses, prosecutors said.
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