The Supreme Court yesterday refused to hear an appeal by two former Taipei officials who were convicted of defrauding the city of NT$590 million (US$20.31 million) on a building construction project more than 15 years ago.
The appeal was filed by Kao Chia-nung (高嘉濃) and Wang Ming-tsang (王銘藏), two former high-level employees at the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems (DORTS), who were in 2015 sentenced to 10 and four years in prison respectively by the Taipei District Court.
The Supreme Court’s rejection, which follows two High Court hearings, means that Kao and Wang, the former director and section chief of the DORTS’ joint development division respectively, would have to serve their sentences.
Photo: Weng Yu-huang, Taipei Times
The case dates back to 2006, when Radium Tech Life was contracted by the Taipei City Government to build an apartment complex called MeHAS City (美河市), near the Xiaobitan MRT station in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店).
Although the project was not in Taipei, it was being managed by DORTS because New Taipei City did not have a similar agency at the time.
Kao and Wang allegedly submitted a false appraisal report, which deliberately overvalued the project’s construction costs, allowing Radium to siphon off NT$590 million at the expense of the city’s taxpayers, the High Court ruled.
In 2012, the project came under the scrutiny of the Control Yuan, which referred the matter to prosecutors for criminal investigation.
The Taipei District Court found the pair guilty of corruption in December 2015, ruling that Kao had forged the valuation of the project and passed it on to his subordinate Wang.
In an appeal, the High Court reduced Kao’s sentence by four years and Wang’s by two, but prosecutors and the two men appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which remanded it for a retrial.
In June last year, the High Court upheld the original sentences of 10 years for Kao and four for Wang, finding them guilty of forging official documents and profiting from corruption.
The court handed Wang a shorter sentence because he cooperated with investigators and confessed to the crimes, while Kao denied any wrongdoing and showed no remorse, the ruling said.
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