The High Court yesterday acquitted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of charges related to his personal use of state funds following a recent change to the Accounting Act (會計法), while his wife and son were sentenced on bribery charges.
In its second retrial ruling, the High Court dismissed all charges against Chen, his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), and his close aides relating to the former president’s use of Presidential Office funds from 2000 to 2008.
The judgement was made in accordance with a contentious May amendment to Article 99-1 of the Accounting Act, which makes the personal use of such funds legal and absolves officials of liability for its improper use prior to Dec. 31, 2006, the court said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The amendment, which was pushed through the legislature by the Democratic Progressive Party and came into effect last month, expanded the exemption of punishment for the misuse of special allowance funds to include state affairs funds available to the president.
Chen was first indicted on charges of corruption, forgery and money laundering in 2008, with prosecutors accusing the now-71-year-old of misusing a total of NT$104 million (US$3.47 million) from the state affairs fund for personal use.
Chen has maintained his innocence, saying that the fund was used to promote confidential diplomatic missions, including paying a US lobbying firm, supporting pro-Taiwan democracy parades, and sponsoring democracy advocates and groups.
The case is one of several corruption scandals that Chen became embroiled in after leaving office.
In 2010, he was sentenced to about 20 years in jail for accepting bribes in a land deal in Taoyuan and other cases.
Chen was released on conditional medical parole in 2015.
The High Court yesterday found Wu guilty of money laundering in a separate case and sentenced the 69-year-old to two years in prison.
The court said that Wu had instructed her son, Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), and daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), to place the money she received from bribes relating to the land deal and the construction of Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center into overseas bank accounts.
Wu, who was a legislator from 1987 to 1990, was previously sentenced to 17-and-a-half years in prison for bribery and other charges in 2010. She has yet to serve time in jail due to health issues.
Chen Chih-chung was sentenced to one year in prison yesterday and fined NT$1.5 million for his involvement in the money laundering case, while Huang was given four years’ probation and fined NT$1 million.
The sentences can be appealed.
The German city of Hamburg on Oct. 14 named a bridge “Kaohsiung-Brucke” after the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung. The footbridge, formerly known as F566, is to the east of the Speicherstadt, the world’s largest warehouse district, and connects the Dar-es-Salaam-Platz to the Brooktorpromenade near the Port of Hamburg on the Elbe River. Timo Fischer, a Free Democratic Party member of the Hamburg-Mitte District Assembly, in May last year proposed the name change with support from members of the Social Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Union. Kaohsiung and Hamburg in 1999 inked a sister city agreement, but despite more than a quarter-century of
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday expressed “grave concerns” after Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) reiterated the city-state’s opposition to “Taiwanese independence” during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強). In Singapore on Saturday, Wong and Li discussed cross-strait developments, the Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “Prime Minister Wong reiterated that Singapore has a clear and consistent ‘one China’ policy and is opposed to Taiwan independence,” it said. MOFA responded that it is an objective fact and a common understanding shared by many that the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign nation, with world-leading
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) has been investigating nine shell companies working with Prince Holding Group, and the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office is seeking further prosecution of alleged criminals, a source said yesterday. The nine companies and three Taiwanese nationals were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Oct. 14 as Specially Designated Nationals as a result of a US federal court indictment. Prince Holding founder Chen Zhi (陳志) has been charged with fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding’s suspected forced-labor camps in Cambodia, the indictment says. Intelligence shared between Taiwan,
RSS