The Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld the conviction of former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Wu Kuang-hsun (吳光訓), who was charged with making about NT$22 million (US$724,137 at the current exchange rate) in illegal profits from stock manipulation.
Wu was handed a three-and-a-half-year prison term in yesterday’s second ruling, which reduced his sentence from the four years meted out in the first ruling by a district court.
In both rulings, the judges found Wu guilty of contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) for manipulating the stock price of Pro-Nets Technology Corp over several months in 2008.
Wu said he would speak to his lawyers before deciding whether to appeal.
Wu was elected as a KMT legislator from a constituency in what was then Kaohsiung County in the 2004 year-end legislative election, serving one term from February 2005 to January 2008.
He had earlier served as chairman of then-Kaohsiung City-based Forwin Securities Investment, and was a member of the legislature’s Finance Committee from 2005 to 2007.
Investigators said that from April to May of 2008, Wu bought a large number of shares of Pro-Nets Technology, a company specializing in broadband and data communication, at between NT$11 and NT$13 per share.
Wu faced huge potential losses when the stock price dropped to about NT$6 in September that year.
From October to December of 2008, Wu manipulated Pro-Nets Technology shares by engaging in what is known as “wash sale” — selling shares at a loss and repurchasing them within a short period — repeating the scheme to create a false impression that the stock was being actively traded and that its price was rising, investigators said.
Wu was also embroiled in vote-buying allegations during the 2004 election campaign, with the probe continuing for several years.
He ran for a second term in 2008, but failed to get elected.
In December 2010, a district court found Wu guilty of vote-buying, saying that he distributed several million New Taiwan dollars to campaign staff and local vote brokers, and paid NT$500 each to some Kaohsiung residents for their vote.
He was sentenced to 34 months in prison.
Wu filed an appeal, but the Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court upheld the vote-buying conviction and sentence of 34 months, in addition to deprivation of civil rights for four years.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
RSS