President Chen Shui-bian's (
The Chaos were found guilty of insider trading in connection with the Taiwan Development Corp scandal and other illegal deals.
The father and son were also fined NT$30 million (US$927,000) each.
The Chaos and other defendants may appeal the ruling to the Taiwan High Court.
In its ruling yesterday, the Taipei District Court said: "They used their political influence to intervene in big business and political affairs. Illegal lobbying and insider trading were the methods they used."
They had shown no regret for their actions and heavy sentences were appropriate, the ruling said.
Chao Yu-chu embezzled NT$11 million from Eslite Books chairman Robert Wu (
Former Taiwan Development Corp chairman Su Teh-jien (
Waterland Securities Co board director Tsai Chin-wen (
Chao Chien-ming, Chao Yu-chu, Su, Tsai and Yu made more than NT$10 million through insider trading of TDC shares.
The scandal dates back to last summer when Su, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank chairman Chang Po-shin (張伯欣) and bank president Chen Chen-chao (陳辰昭) dined on two occasions with Chao Chien-ming, Tsai and Yu at a Japanese restaurant in Taipei.
Confidential information about Taiwan Development Corp was discussed on both occasions.
The court noted that Chao Chien-ming, his father, Tsai and Yu each bought a large number of shares in the corporation shortly afterwards.
In related news, Nice Group president Chen Jing-yao (
Chen and Hung were found guilty of breach of trust in connection with the transfer of NT$27 million to Chao Yu-chu's accounts.
Prosecutors believe that the money was a bribe for Chao Chien-ming's efforts to help Chen Jing-yao win the leadership of Waterland Financial Holdings Co last year.
The court found that there was insufficient evidence that the Chao family attempted to manipulate that leadership race, and thus neither were charged on that count.
also see story:
Reaction mixed to convictions of Chen's in-laws
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
RSS