The Supreme Court has upheld the High Court’s verdict on a 2019 vote-buying case as well as the sentence of the main defendant — a prison sentence of three years and two months for contravening the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法).
The Supreme Court’s ruling is final.
Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises Changsha City Branch chairman Lin Huai (林懷) was accused of receiving funds from the Chinese Communist Party and using them to encourage others to cast their presidential ballot in the 2020 election for then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) and their party ballot for the KMT.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Taiwanese who returned home from China to vote would be eligible for a 1,500 yuan (US$210) subsidy and 467 people took advantage of the subsidies.
The first ruling, issued by the Taipei District Court, gave Lin a prison sentence of three years and 10 months, while the High Court, citing that Lin pleaded guilty to contravening Item 1, Article 86 of the act, reduced the sentence to three years and two months while disenfranchising Lin for four years.
Chinese Women’s Federation deputy secretary Shen Bin (沈斌), China New Family Association chairwoman Chiang Ming-sia (蔣明霞), Hunan Shaoyang City Association in Taiwan director Chang Guo-jun (張國君) and Changsha City-based Taiwanese businessman Chuang Huan-chang (莊桓漳) were handed prison sentences of one year and eight months in the first ruling.
The High Court sustained that ruling, but considering that the four had only helped transfer the funds, compiled a list of attendees and had pleaded guilty, deferred the sentences for five years.
The four had to pay NT$200,000 to the state and undergo 30 hours of legal education. They did not appeal and their sentences were final after the first ruling.
Taipei-based Chinese Women’s Federation chairwoman Ho Jianhua (何建華) and Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises in Changsha deputy chairman Tung Chien-hua (佟建華) were declared not guilty in both the first and second rulings.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS