The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the conviction of former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) in a defamation lawsuit that stemmed from a corruption case.
The court affirmed the High Court’s second ruling in April on the defamation case, upholding its five-month prison sentence, which could be appealed further.
The Supreme Court said that Lin knew what he had done, but nonetheless launched a malicious lawsuit against Next Media in an abuse of judicial resources.
Lin in 2012 was found guilty of accepting bribes totaling NT$63 million (US$2.06 million at the current exchange rate).
Lin last year was sentenced to two years in prison, which he began serving in September last year, for “holding properties of unknown origin,” although the Supreme Court ordered the High Court retrial over charges of “receiving bribes in breach of official duties.”
Lin represented the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Kaohsiung and served as a legislator for four terms from 1998. He was a part of then-KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inner circle.
At the start of his second term as president in 2012, Ma promoted Lin to Executive Yuan secretary-general.
Investigators found that in 2010, when Lin was a legislator, he had helped Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co secure a slag treatment contract from CHC Resources, a subsidiary of state-owned China Steel Corp in exchange for NT$63 million from Ti Yung owner Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥).
Over the past year, Lin applied to serve his time in a minimum-security prison in Taoyuan, where visits by family members and holiday releases are permitted.
His application was rejected twice, but it was approved on the third request and he was transferred to Taoyuan last month.
Yesterday’s decision arose from a 2012 news report by the Chinese-language Next Magazine, which reported that he asked for an NT$83 million bribe, of which he received NT$63 million from Ti Yung.
Lin denied receiving the bribe and sued Next Magazine.
However, audio recordings and other evidence showed that Lin had solicited and received the bribe, the Supreme Court said.
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