The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced Farglory Group founder Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) to seven years in prison on bribery and corruption charges.
New Taipei City Councilor Chou Sheng-kao (周勝考) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison on charges of giving and accepting bribes.
Former Taipei Department of Finance commissioner Lee Sush-der (李述德) was sentenced to nine years in prison and five years of disenfranchisement for financially benefiting Farglory Land Development Co, the main contractor for the Taipei Dome project.
Taipei Times file photo
Hung Chia-hung (洪嘉宏), former head of the Construction and Planning Agency’s Urban and Rural Development Branch, was sentenced to eight years and two months in prison on charges including taking bribes and hiding funds.
Hai Chih-ping (海治平), the division head of planning review at the New Taipei City Urban and Rural Development Department, was sentenced to four years and 10 months for bribery.
The verdicts can be appealed.
Prosecutors indicted 31 people in 2017 on charges of bribery and breach of trust in cases involving several public construction projects including the Taipei Dome.
Authorities investigated Chao on suspicion of embezzlement of funds from Farglory Life Insurance Co in 2007 and 2008, and bribery of New Taipei City officials in 2013 to obtain contracts for two real-estate development projects — the rezoning of a former coal mine in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城) and a factory in the city’s Sinjhuang District (新莊).
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office had sought a jail term of 24 years for the 78-year-old Chao.
He was released on record bail of NT$550 million (US$17.11 million) and ordered to report to his local police station every day.
A collegial panel in July 2020 reduced the frequency that Chao had to report to the station to four times a week, on the condition that he pay additional bail of NT$250 million, with his sons Frank Chao (趙文嘉) and George Chao (趙信清) as guarantors.
Farglory Group general manager Jacky Yang (楊舜欽) said that bidding for the Taipei Dome project was conducted legally.
The group did not make illegal profits from the project, Yang said.
Asked about Chao’s sentence, Yang said it was regrettable that the judge did not accept Chao’s explanations, but the group firmly believes that he did not engage in illegal acts.
In response to the court’s judgement, Yang said that the company would facilitate corporate sustainability, adopt a more professional management system, enhance its corporate governance and improve its structure, culture and internal regulations.
Farglory is operating normally and growing steadily, he added.
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
Scoot announced yesterday that starting in October, it would increase flights between Taipei and Japan’s Narita airport and Hokkaido, and between Singapore and Taipei. The low-cost airline, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, also said it would launch flights to Chiang Rai in Thailand, Okinawa and Tokyo’s Haneda airport between December and March next year. Flights between Singapore and Chiang Rai would begin on Jan. 1, with five flights per week operated by an Embraer E190-E2 aircraft, Scoot said. Flights between Singapore and Okinawa would begin on Dec. 15, with three flights per week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, the airline said. Services between Singapore
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
RSS