The Taipei District Court on Friday convicted 14 defendants of corruption and tax evasion for bringing undeclared cartons of duty-free cigarettes into Taiwan on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) return flight from a state visit to the Caribbean in 2019.
Convicted on breaches of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲) and Chang Heng-chia (張恒嘉), majors in the National Security Bureau (NSB), received prison terms of 10 years and four months, and 10 years and two months respectively.
Article 4, Item 4 of the act prohibits “using government vehicles to transport contraband or carry goods for tax evasion.”
Former China Airlines Ltd (CAL) chartered flight division vice president Chiu Chang-hsin (邱彰信) was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison after being found guilty of tax evasion under the Tax Collection Act (稅捐稽徵法).
Lin Chih-chien (林志建), an NSB colonel serving at the Special Service Command Center — the highest-ranking officer in the case — received a suspended prison term of six months.
Lin was given a lighter sentence because he confessed and cooperated with investigators, the decision said, adding that he also paid the NT$330,000 (US$11,943) in evaded taxes to the national treasury.
Six NSB sergeants who worked as drivers at the Special Service Command Center were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven years to six years and two months for their part in transporting the contraband cigarettes.
“The defendants abused their authority, ignored their duty to obey our nation’s laws, and used government vehicles and equipment for personal gain,” the decision said.
It was the first ruling and can be appealed.
On July 22, 2019, NSB agents accompanying Tsai on an overseas trip attempted to smuggle 9,200 cartons of cigarettes worth NT$6 million into the nation.
The cigarettes were ordered from CAL’s online duty-free store on July 8, three days before Tsai embarked on the trip, and they were put into storage at an airport warehouse owned by China Pacific Catering Services Ltd.
Shortly before the flight landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the cigarettes were removed from the warehouse and loaded into five government vehicles, which attempted to leave the airport as part of Tsai’s motorcade before customs officers, acting on a tip-off, intercepted the vehicles in the airport’s rapid clearance lane.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS