Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sufin Siluko (廖國棟) was yesterday released on NT$10 million (US$351,124) bail after his defense lawyers successfully petitioned the Taipei District Court that he should be freed due to deteriorating health.
In September last year, Sufin, KMT Legislator Chen Chao-ming (陳超明), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) and former New Power Party legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) were indicted for allegedly taking bribes in a case linked to former Pacific Distribution Investment Co chairman Lee Heng-lung’s (李恆隆) two-decade-long battle with the Far Eastern Group over ownership of the Pacific SOGO Department Store chain.
Of the major figures charged in the case, only Su and his top aide, Hsu Hsueh-yang (余學洋), remain in detention, as the other lawmakers have been released on bail.
At yesterday’s hearing, Sufin’s lawyers requested for his release on NT$2 million bail, saying that the defendant only had NT$2.96 million in cash, plus difficult-to-sell properties.
They pledged that their client would not flee Taiwan.
The defense added that Sufin has a heart condition, diabetes, joint pain in his legs and high blood pressure that are aggrevated by his detention.
The court found Sufin to be a flight risk, given the charges against him, but said that there was no reason to hold him, as the investigation had completed taking people’s testimonies.
The court set his bail at NT$10 million and restricted his movement to his residence.
The four lawmakers have been charged with bribery and breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Their aides and office staff have also been indicted for allegedly receiving bribes.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS