Former independent legislator Yang Tsung-jer (楊宗哲) was sentenced on Friday to 13 years in prison for corruption by the Taiwan High Court’s Taichung branch.
Yang was convicted for receiving NT$8.31 million (US$284,000) in bribes while serving as chief of Hsihu Township (溪湖) in Changhua County.
Yang’s wife, Yeh Mei-hui (葉美惠), was sentenced to nine-and-half years in prison for her role in the same case.
Photo: Liu Hsiao-hsin, Taipei Times
Yang, Yeh and other defendants can still appeal the ruling with the Supreme Court.
Yang was elected Hsihu Township chief in 1998. He and the township’s 12 representatives passed an order under which any firm that won a bid for township construction projects had to remit 25 percent of the construction fee as a commission. Under the plan, Yang took 5 percent of the commission while the 12 representatives shared 20 percent, the ruling said.
In the ruling, the court found that some of the money was used to fund the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential campaign ahead of the 2000 election.
The ruling added that Yeh had represented Yang in asking contractors for bribes.
The ruling said a contractor who won a NT$3 million road construction bid was asked to pay more than NT$600,000, but since it was known that he was in financial difficulty, they asked him to pay just NT$180,000.
The ruling said six of the 12 representatives, who confessed they took bribes during investigations and became witnesses for the prosecution, had already been found not guilty by a lower court.
Yang, Yeh and six representatives have denied taking bribes.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS