A military officer has been found guilty of two criminal offenses, with a court handing out a 10-year term for graft and a three-month term for abusing a subordinate by forcing him to eat extremely hot chili peppers.
The Taipei District Court convicted Staff Sergeant Ma Chen-yu (馬震宇) on 14 counts of graft and one count of coercion. Ma held an administrative job at the Armed Forces Reserve Command’s Deputy Chief of Staff Office from 2010 to 2012, when the offenses were committed.
According to prosecutors, Ma was in charge of organizing a banquet on behalf of the office in March 2012. The meal was composed only of fish and tofu hot pot, roast duck, a mixed fruit plate and other simple fare. However, he falsified receipts to inflate banquet expenses and pocketed about NT$9,000 on that occasion.
Ma forced his subordinates to sign and endorse the receipts in order to claim that the banquet also had more expensive dishes, including: a black ginseng casserole pot, tortoise soup, steamed grouper, braised beef brisket, roast prawn, Japanese-style grilled pork and a sashimi seafood platter.
The staff sergeant was also convicted on a dozen counts of graft for claiming money on meal allowances for subordinate staff between October 2010 and May 2012.
The false claims on meal allowances by Ma totaled NT$23,550, according to the court’s statement.
For the corruption convictions, Ma was given a 10-year term and ordered to pay back what he stole. However, he can still appeal the sentence.
Prosecutors also investigated a case of abuse against the staff sergeant, which occurred in April 2012.
Ma forced a private surnamed Chen (陳) under his command to eat a spoonful of extremely hot chili pepper powder.
Knowing Chen was not fond of spicy food, Ma threatened him, saying: “If don’t eat it, you are not one of us, and you will be sent back to your original army unit.”
Chen testified to having suffered painful symptoms afterwards.
“The chili powder was very hot. After I swallowed a tablespoon, my mouth was burning, and my lips were swollen. Then my head was tingling and became numb. I was sweating, and soon after my stomach was aching and I had diarrhea… I felt I was treated in an inhumane and cruel way,” Chen said.
The court convicted Ma on a lighter offense of coercion and not the charge of physical abuse of subordinates, which would mean a heavier sentence. It handed out a three-month term, which is commutable to a fine of NT$90,000.
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