The Kaohsiung branch of the Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld corruption charges against Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker, and sentenced him to seven years and six months in prison.
Chung was found guilty of accepting a bribe of NT$3 million (US$99,154 at the current exchange rate) in 2011, when he was a KMT lawmaker in Kaohsiung.
The court charged Chung with violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), and, in addition to the jail term, he was ordered to pay back the NT$3 million bribe.
In the first ruling by the District Court, Chung was found guilty of corruption and received a seven-year prison term.
On appeal in 2014, he received a seven-year, six-month term in the second ruling by the High Court.
Yesterday’s retrial decision can be appealed.
The case stemmed from talks between Chung and Tung Hsin-yao (董欣耀), head of the Taiwan subsidiary of Singapore’s Winson Group (永順集團), which is engaged in petroleum trading and oil tanker transport, with investments and offices in Taiwan, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Dubai and other Asian nations.
Winson Group’s Taiwan subsidiary applied for a business license in 2010, for ship-to-ship petroleum transfer outside Kaohsiung Port, but the application was not approved.
Tung met with Chung several times in 2011, asking the then-KMT lawmaker to put pressure on government agencies for the license’s approval, the court said.
Tung, on April 15, 2011, paid Chung more than NT$3 million for his help to expedite the application process, which required Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and Ministry of Transport and Communications review.
Investigations found Chung in subsequent months requested meetings with EPA and ministry officials. License approval and review in the petroleum transfer business falls under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is governed under the Petroleum Administration Act (石油管理法).
It was alleged that Chung discussed the issue with government officials and initiated the process of amending provisions of the Petroleum Administration Act to expand its jurisdiction to include offshore waters, which would facilitate approval of the license.
Chung pushed through the proposed amendment in the legislative committee.
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