Anne Kao (高虹安) yesterday was sentenced to seven years and four months in prison and suspended as Hsinchu mayor after the Taipei District Court found her guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) and the Criminal Code.
The court also deprived Kao of her civil rights for four years and she was suspended from office by the Ministry of the Interior.
Article 78 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) stipulates that a mayor of a special municipality will be suspended from office if they are found guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act.
Photo copied by Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Kao was accused of taking for her own use more than NT$460,030 (US$14,012) of public funds allotted for overtime pay for her assistants during her time as a Taiwan People’s Party legislator from 2020 to 2022.
The other defendants in the trial were former staff at Kao’s office when she was a lawmaker: Wang Yu-wen (王郁文), head of public relations; Huang Hui-wen (黃惠玟), head of administrative affairs; Chen Huan-yu (陳奐宇), who headed the office; and Chen Yu-kai (陳昱愷), director of legal affairs.
Prosecutors said that the four, who were paid using public funds, inflated their monthly overtime at Kao’s instruction and gave the extra cash to her.
Payroll rules on the Legislative Yuan’s Web site say that each lawmaker is entitled to recruit eight to 14 assistants. Such personnel must be discharged if the legislator fails to win re-election.
From Feb. 1, 2020, Huang, Wang and Chen Huan-yu were each paid a monthly salary ranging from NT$46,000 to NT$70,000, the court said.
From March to November 2020, Kao instructed Huang to apply for monthly salaries of NT$70,000, NT$67,360, NT$67,161 and NT$72,000, exceeding her actual monthly pay of NT$62,000, based on false applications for overtime, the court said.
The same method was employed by Chen Huan-yu and Wang, who both made false applications for overtime on Kao’s instructions over the same period, it said.
Kao embezzled NT$116,514, it said.
Prosecutors had accused her of taking NT$460,030.
Chen Huan-yu, Huang and Wang were found to have embezzled NT$506, NT$5,642 and NT$466 respectively, the court said.
Wang and Huang were handed two-year prison sentences suspended for five years for contravening Article 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act, while Chen Huan-yu, was found guilty of breaching the same article and sentenced to one year, suspended for three years.
Chen Yu-kai was found not guilty of all charges.
Kao was paid NT$190,000 per month and had significant savings of NT$12 million, exacerbating the magnitude of her crime, the court said.
Moreover, the Yonglin Foundation (永齡基金會) was providing NT$100,000 per month to pay office assistants, the court said.
Hsinchu Deputy Mayor Chiu Chen-yuan (邱臣遠) is to take over Kao’s role until the central government appoints an acting mayor, the ministry said.
The Local Government Act stipulates that no by-election is to be held, as Kao’s term had less than two years to go.
Instead, the central government is to designate an acting mayor until the next election, it says.
Kao said in a video statement that the ruling was unprecedented compared with similar cases over the past decade.
She said that she would appeal the verdict.
Additional reporting by Lee Wen-hsin
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
RSS