The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a Taiwan High Court ruling sentencing former Tainan prosecutor Sung Tsung-yi (宋宗儀) to 20 years in prison for corruption and bribery.
Yesterday’s final ruling brings an end to the case of the man described in the media as one of the nation’s most corrupt prosecutors.
Court documents showed that Sung served as prosecutor in three jurisdictions and was involved in a series of bribery cases — accepting money in exchange for dropping charges against the defendants or influencing the proceedings.
The Supreme Court ruling said that while working at the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office in 1997, Sung accepted NT$3 million (US$90,727) in bribes from the family of Wang Mao-hsiung (王茂雄), secretary-general of a farmers’ cooperative who was accused of vote-buying and other election violations.
In exchange, Wang was freed on bail, despite reservations from other judicial officials. For that case, Sung was given a 12-year term.
In 1995, Sung was involved in a government crackdown on illegal gambling in Chiayi. The court said he “borrowed” NT$2.5 million from a gambling den operator, surnamed Chen (陳), and did not return the money. The charges against Chen were subsequently dropped.
In 1994, when he was working as a prosecutor in Yunlin County, Sung accepted an unspecified amount of money to drop charges against a man suspected of fatally shooting a person at a KTV.
After he was transferred to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office in 2002, Sung took NT$5 million in bribes from a gang boss, Wang Chuan-ming (王川銘), who was suspected of ordering a hit that left the intended victim a paraplegic.
Sung handled the case and after receiving a bribe, dropped all charges against Wang. The suspect hitman was later released from detention.
In August last year, the Tainan branch of the Taiwan High Court sentenced Sung to 20 years in prison. Sung appealed, but the Supreme Court upheld the Tainan court’s decision.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS