New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday described the Taipei District Court’s decision to grant former Taipei City Councilor Chin Li-fang (秦儷舫) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) a reprieve from two years in prison as “ridiculous,” and said it would reduce people’s trust in the judicial system.
The investigation found that Chin obtained more than NT$2 million (US$65,454 at the current exchange rate) in subsidies from the Taipei City Council between 2009 and 2014. While the subsidies should have been used to pay assistants’ salaries, three of her relatives pretended to be her assistants and she used the money to pay her housing loans and other family expenses.
The court last month found her guilty of corruption on 78 occasions. She was sentenced to two years in prison, but granted a reprieve.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
According to Article 5 of the Criminal Code (刑法), she should be punished with a minimum of seven years in prison, Huang said on Facebook yesterday.
Chin’s case could be compared with that of Tainan City Councilor Lu Mei-chi (陸美祈) of the Democratic Progressive Party, who was sentenced to three years and six months in prison with no reprieve by the Tainan District Court for illegally obtaining more than NT$4 million in subsidies from the city council, he said, adding that it helps emphasize “how ridiculous the ruling on Chin was.”
Both courts found them guilty of corruption on two counts, with each councilor term considered as one count, and reduced their punishment on the grounds that they returned their illegal proceedings, Huang said.
However, Chin’s prison term was shortened even further because the Taipei District Court decided to reduce her punishment a second time on the grounds that she could be sympathized with, he added.
According to Article 59 of the Criminal Code, a punishment can be reduced if circumstances surrounding the offense can be sympathized with.
In Lu’s case, “the Tainan District Court rejected a request from the plaintiff to further reduce the punishment and said very clearly that the offense was planned over a long period, so there was nothing to be sympathized with,” he said.
He has urged the prosecutor on Chin’s case to lodge an appeal, but it is unknown whether his advice would be taken, Huang said.
“The extent to which transparency is lacking in the judiciary is beyond what we can imagine. I hope the prosecutor has appealed, because if not, it would again damage people’s trust in the system,” he added.
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