The Hualien District Court on Friday sentenced Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) and his ex-wife to six and four month prison terms respectively, and fined the two for engaging what it labled a false divorce to circumvent a law that bans the appointment of family members to political posts.
At Fu’s inauguration as county commissioner in December 2009, he appointed his ex-wife, Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), who had divorced him only two days before, as his deputy commissioner. The appointment immediately drew the attention of many observers.
According to Hualien District Court Judge Chen Shih-po (陳世博), after the couple filed for divorce they remained neighbors in the same building and showed no outward change in their relationship at public events. Fu still referred to Hsu as his wife.
The purpose of the divorce was simply to circumvent the Public Officials Conflict of Interest Prevention Act (公職人員利益衝突迴避法), the judge said.
After hearing about the ruling, Fu said he was the first individual in the 100-year history of the Republic of China to be investigated by nearly every branch of government because of a divorce.
Despite the decision, Fu pledged he would not be beaten by “political persecution.”
Fu’s lawyer, Chien Tsan-hsien (簡燦賢), said the burden of proof lies with the prosecutor, who must present evidence that the two knowingly lied about their feelings at the time of the divorce.
During the trial, the prosecutor was not able to provide such evidence, the defense lawyer said.
According to Chien, the verdict is based on events that occurred after the divorce was filed, so evidence from those events cannot possibly establish that they had lied at the time of the divorce.
The lawyer said he will meet with his clients to discuss whether they will file an appeal.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS