The Taiwan High Court yesterday announced that it would hear final arguments in the corruption case against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his co-defendants on Wednesday and deliver its verdict on June 11.
Taipei District Court sentenced Chen to life in prison in September after handing down a guilty verdict in the first trial against the former first couple and 11 others.
In addition to the life sentence, Chen and his wife were also found guilty of embezzlement and taking bribes totaling NT$800 million (US$25.4 million). Chen was fined NT$200 million and had his civil rights annulled for life for violating the Punishment of Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) and Criminal Code (刑法).
PHOTO: CNA
In the first trial, former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was given a life sentence, fined NT$300 million and also had her civil rights annulled for life.
Chen Shui-bian’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), was sentenced in September to two years and six months in the money laundering case and fined NT$150 million for helping his parents wire money overseas.
Chen Shui-bian’s daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), was sentenced to one year and eight months and fined NT$150 million on money laundering charges.
Chen Shui-bian was first detained on Nov. 12, 2008, and released on Dec. 13, 2008, following his indictment.
He was detained again on Dec. 30, 2008, after Taipei District Court approved a request by prosecutors to take him back into custody and has been in detention ever since.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
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