Former Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) director-general Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂) was sentenced to a combined six years in prison yesterday by the Taiwan High Court for withholding information related to the former first family’s alleged money laundering activities and a separate charge of leaking confidential information to a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker.
In the first case, the High Court found Yeh guilty of concealing a government file, for which he was given a prison sentence of three years and nine months. In the second case, he was convicted of leaking confidential information, for which he received two-and-a-half years in prison.
The file concealment conviction can be appealed, while the confidential information leakage conviction is final, which means he will be behind bars soon.
Photo: CNA
The court said the international anti-money laundering organization, the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, in January 2008 delivered a report to MJIB in which its Cayman Islands unit raised the suspicion that the family of then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was laundering money through an account created under the name of Chen’s daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), at a Merrill Lynch bank in Geneva, Switzerland.
Using this report, the MJIB’s Anti-Money Laundering Center on Jan. 29 of that year compiled a file intended for delivery to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.
Yeh later requested that the file be handed over to him, saying he would pass it to then-prosecutor-general Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) in person. Instead of giving the file to Chen Tsung-ming, however, Yeh leaked its contents to the former president during a visit to the latter’s residence on Jan. 31 or Feb. 1.
In the second conviction, Yeh was found to have leaked a plan by prosecutors and investigators to raid the offices of DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in April 2008 in an investigation into Ker’s alleged involvement in an illegal mining operation in Hualien County.
Previously, a lower district court found Yeh guilty of graft in Chen Shui-bian’s case and sentenced him to eight-and-a-half years, plus an additional two-and-a-half years for Ker’s case. That court had decided to combine the two sentences to 10 years and deprive Yeh of his civil rights for an additional five years.
The High Court yesterday determined that Yeh should be convicted of concealing a government file, instead of graft, which carries a lighter sentence.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS