A former lawmaker known for fighting in the legislature testified in court yesterday that he was innocent of charges of business fraud, embezzlement and intimidation.
Prosecutors accused Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) last June of illegally pocketing NT$1.3 billion (US$38 million) from several businesses. The prosecutor said Lo used violence and intimidation to get the money.
Lo was also accused of obtaining loans totaling NT$800 million (US$23.4 million) from two banks by presenting forged documents about a construction project.
PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Facing a possible sentence of 20 years in prison, Lo told reporters before the hearing began yesterday that he was innocent and that the charges were trumped up.
``I can face up to my conscience. I will pray for God's blessings,'' Lo said.
Last year, the 59-year-old Lo was suspended from the legislature for six months for attacking Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) during a committee hearing. The burly Lo alleged that Lee accused him of being a gangster, and he slapped and punched her in front of TV cameras.
Lo, an independent, did not run for re-election last December.
When he appeared at the Taipei District Court yesterday, he looked more like a gentle, bespectacled grandfather than the tough-talking, brawling lawmaker he once was. His hair was gray because he has stopped dying it, and he wore a conservative dark suit.
Through analyzing fossil evidence, a research team at National Taiwan University (NTU) discovered the largest endemic bird to have lived in Taiwan, naming it Pavo miejue, or extinct peafowl (滅絕孔雀). The Mikado pheasant, which is printed on the back of the NT$1,000 bank note, was previously believed to be the biggest endemic bird to Taiwan. The research team’s findings suggest that Pavo miejue lived during the Pleistocene epoch tens of thousands of years ago. It is the first endemic extinct bird species discovered and formally named in Taiwan. The study was coauthored by NTU Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修),
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to suspend its automated Skytrain service connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 starting on July 1 to facilitate connection works for the upcoming Terminal 3, the airport operator said today. Passengers and staff who need to travel between the two terminals after the suspension can instead use the Taoyuan MRT or the airport's 24-hour shuttle bus service, Taoyuan International Airport Corp said. The Taoyuan MRT Airport Line directly links the two terminals, while the shuttle buses are to operate around the clock, the company added. The Skytrain provides free transportation between the airport’s two terminals for travelers and
In a historic first, Taiwanese officials participated in this year’s Riga Strategic Communications Dialogue in Latvia from Wednesday to Friday last week, which debuted a breakout session focused on Taiwan The event organizer, the NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence, displayed Taiwan’s national flag and the officials’ formal titles on their Web site. Taiwanese attendees included National Security Council (NSC) Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) and deputy head of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK, Chiang Ya-chi (江雅綺). In addition to the session discussing Taiwan titled “Taiwan: Navigating Strategic Communication in a Tense Environment,” the dialogue also included sessions
Taiwan ranked 42nd in terms of peacefulness among 163 countries, down five places from last year, according to this year’s Global Peace Index. With an overall score of 1.751, Taiwan dropped from 37th last year, the report published by the global Institute for Economics and Peace showed. The overall score measures a country’s level of peacefulness using 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators across three domains — ongoing domestic and international conflict, societal safety and security, and militarization. While Taiwan ranked 42nd worldwide, it was listed in ninth place among the 19 Asian-Pacific countries in the report, after New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia,
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