Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) yesterday handed himself in to prosecutors and was taken to the Taipei Detention Center to begin his prison term of four years and six months.
After agreeing to comply, Gao, 55, was accompanied from his residence in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) to the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in the early afternoon to sign the required documents.
Gao was then taken to the Taipei Detention Center in a police vehicle.
Photo: Chen Wei-tse, Taipei Times
He is on Thursday to be transferred to Yilan Prison in Sansing Township (三星).
The Supreme Court on Dec. 26 denied his appeal and upheld a 2016 Taiwan High Court ruling that found him guilty of corruption. Gao can no longer appeal the case.
A three-term DPP lawmaker, Gao has been stripped of the legislative seat he won in 2016, representing Sanchong.
The Taiwan High Court in November 2016 upheld a district court ruling which found Gao and his office assistant, Yao Liang-tian (姚糧鈿), who later changed his name to Yao Sheng-chih (姚昇志), guilty of corruption.
The Taiwan High Court sentenced Kao to four years and six months in prison and fined him NT$500,000 (US$16,243 at the current exchange rate) for improper use of influence and receiving an illegal political donation of NT$500,000 in contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), while Yao was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
In 2006, real-estate agents surnamed Lo (羅) and Chen (陳) approached Yao expressing their interest in renting a plot belonging to the Ministry of Finance’s National Property Administration in Taichung’s East District (東).
The real-estate agents contacted Yao after encountering problems when negotiating with government officials.
After reaching an agreement to rent the land for daytime market use, the company paid a NT$2 million “commission” to Yao.
It was reported that Yao used NT$1 million to pay off personal debts, then put NT$500,000 into his bank account and gave NT$500,000 to Kao as a “political donation” for his campaign fund.
Gao denied the corruption and improper influence charges.
Gao and his lawyer said that Yao conducted his own illegal dealings, then turned against his boss to received a reduced sentence.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition