The Taiwan High Court yesterday said that the former director of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) military training department, Sung Wen (宋文), would receive national compensation for his detention during a corruption investigation.
Sung became the first defendant in a criminal case to be granted compensation in accordance with the Criminal Compensation Act (刑事補償法), which came into force earlier this month, said Lin Chun-yi (林俊益), director of the Judicial Yuan’s Department of Criminal Law.
The Taiwan High Court said Sung was entitled to NT$196,000 in compensation.
Lin said the act was passed by the legislature in June to replace the False Imprisonment Compensation Act (冤獄賠償法).
Under the new law, it is easier for defendants in a criminal case to be granted compensation and the sums awarded tend to be higher than under the previous law.
Lin said that under the False Imprisonment Compensation Act, Sung would have been unable to receive compensation for his detention.
The Taipei District Court in July 2004 granted a request by prosecutors to detain Sung on corruption charges. Sung was accused of soliciting and taking bribes from subordinates whom he could promote or demote.
In addition, prosecutors alleged that Sung accepted kickbacks from textbook publishers over the course of his nine-year tenure at the ministry.
Sung, who was detained for 49 days, was charged with corruption in September 2004. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.
His trials lasted for six years. In November last year, Sung was found not guilty in the final verdict. He then applied to the Taiwan High Court to be compensated for his detention.
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