Former vice premier Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) was released yesterday on bail of NT$28 million (US$876,369) in Taoyuan after being indicted on corruption charges the day before.
Cheng had been held incommunicado since he was detained in Taoyuan based on a court order issued on July 11.
As part of the conditions of his release, he is required to remain at his residence and is not allowed to leave the country for eight months, prosecutors said.
Photo: CNA
He is also forbidden from making contact with witnesses or other defendants in the case, they said.
Four other suspects involved in the case who had been detained were also released on bail.
Hou Shui-wen (侯水文), former executive general manager of Formosa Plastics Group, was released on bail of NT$2.05 million; Liao Chun-sung (廖俊松), former head of an industrial zone planning committee in Linkou, was released on bail of NT$1.1 million; while two of Liao’s sons, Liao Chia-hsing (廖家興) and Liao Li-ting (廖力廷), were released on bail of NT$600,000 and NT$250,000 respectively.
The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office told a news conference on Tuesday that it recommended a 12-year jail sentence for Cheng for allegedly receiving a NT$5 million bribe while he was Taoyuan mayor to broker an industrial development project in the city’s Hwa Ya Technology Park (華亞科技園區) in Linkou District (林口) in 2017.
Following Tuesday’s indictments, the case was transferred to the Taoyuan District Court, which held a hearing at 9:30pm the same day.
At 1:30am the court ruled at the hearing that Cheng be granted bail of NT$28 million, the highest bail amount given to any political figure in recent years.
A lawyer representing Cheng brought the bail money at about 2:41am and the visibly tired former vice premier left the court without speaking to reporters at about 5am.
Cheng is also under investigation in a separate case, after NT$6.78 million in cash was discovered at his Taipei residence during a search by prosecutors on July 29.
Cheng, 57, served as vice premier from Jan. 31 last year to May 20 during former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) second term. He was the first major of the then-newly established Taoyuan special municipality from 2014 to 2022.
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