The Supreme Court on Monday upheld guilty verdicts for three Kaohsiung police officers convicted of receiving NT$8.91 million (US$307,751) in bribes, sentencing them to between nine and 18 years in prison.
The ruling affirmed a decision by the High Court’s Kaohsiung branch in September last year — and cannot be appealed.
The three were convicted for contravening of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Prosecutors had shown that from 2012 to 2014, the three accepted bribes from owners of electronic gaming parlors and other gambling businesses in Kaohsiung in exchange for protection and warnings of planned police raids.
Former inspector Tsai Ching-te (蔡景德) received the heaviest punishment of 18 years and six months in jail, along with a NT$8 million fine.
Former Renwu District (仁武) Police Precinct second lieutenant Lin Ying-chang (林霙璋) was sentenced to 12 years and two months and former Siaogang (小港) Police Precinct traffic division chief Chi Te-ching (齊德清) was handed a 12-year sentence.
The scheme was led by a man surnamed Lee (李), an operator of an underground electronic gaming casino in Renwu District, who collected a monthly “public relations fee” from other operators of electronic gaming and gambling businesses, investigators said.
Evidence showed that Lee handed the money to a retired deputy chief of a police precinct surnamed Chen (陳), who was connected with high-ranking police officers, and that he passed the bribes to Tsai, Lin and Chi.
Investigators found that Tsai received NT$630,000 a month from December 2012 to October 2013 for a total of NT$6.93 million, while NT$1.1 million was passed to Chi over 10 months and Lin received NT$870,000.
The officers were in February last year dismissed from their jobs.
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