The Tainan District Court yesterday sentenced independent former Tainan City Council speaker Kuo Hsin-liang (郭信良) to 13 years in prison for corruption.
In yesterday’s verdict, Kuo was also stripped of his civil rights for eight years after being found guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) by receiving more than NT$13 million (US$406,657) through extortion and receiving bribes from an engineering consultancy relating to a land zoning project in Tainan’s Tiansi Borough (佃西).
The bribe was shared between Kuo and former Tiansi Borough warden Kao Chin-chien (高進見), who received a nine-year prison sentence and was disenfranchised for four years. Kao also received an additional six-month sentence for inciting and pressuring someone to commit perjury.
Photo: Taipei Times
Meanwhile, the court acquitted the head of the engineering firm, surnamed Liao (廖), of bribery charges, from whom Kuo and Kao solicited the bribe, but confiscated his mobile phone as evidence.
Kuo wrote on social media: “I did not use my position to take money from anyone, and had presented evidence during the trial, but the judges chose to believe the testimony of someone who is under investigation in another litigation case.”
Prosecutors said Kuo’s eight-year sentence is too lenient and that they would consider appealing.
Kuo was a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) when he served as deputy speaker from 2010 to 2018, and currently holds office as an independent Tainan city councilor. He has been a city councilor since 1998, winning seven consecutive city councilor elections.
He left the DPP in 2018 and made a successful run for the speakership as an independent, receiving support from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and other independent councilors, and served until 2022. He was replaced by DPP-nominated Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉), who still holds the office.
The judicial investigation opened in July last year with warrants to search more than 10 locations, including Kuo’s residence, constituency offices and office in Tainan City Hall.
Two months later, Kuo and Kao were indicted on corruption charges for allegedly using his position as speaker to extort money in 2021 by demanding bribes from an engineering firm for a rezoning project to construct a residential building in Tainan’s Annan District (安南).
Additional reporting by Wang Chieh and CNA
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS