The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict and prison sentence of ten years and five months for former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Tsui-luan (陳粹鑾) for embezzling public funds.
Through her unwitting daughter, Cheng An-li (鄭安秝), also a Kaohsiung City councilor, Chen falsified a list of assistants and claimed NT$4.49 million (US$138,000) in fraudulent fees in nine years.
In February 2013, Chen, then a city councilor, took her family on a trip, then falsely filed NT$30,000 in travel expenses using receipts from the travel agency, claiming it was a domestic study tour.
Photo: Taipei Times
She was sentenced to three years and eight months for forgery and corruption, which she appealed and lost.
She was released from prison in August 2020 on parole.
Cheng became the youngest member of the Kaohsiung City Council in KMT history after running in her mother’s place in 2018.
Chen, from prison, worked with her son Cheng Chia-hong (鄭嘉宏), and her daughter’s office manager, Wang Mei-chu (王美珠), to take advantage of Cheng An-li’s city councilor position.
Chen, Wang and Cheng Chia-hong falsified lists of aides, including using the names of relatives and associates, to claim public assistant subsidies from the council.
Cheng An-li was unaware of the scheme.
In their first trial, the Kaohsiung District Court found that across her terms in office as well as her daughter’s term, Chen defrauded the city of NT$1.14 million, NT$2.65 million, and NT$690,000 respectively, for a total of NT$4.49 million.
The court sentenced Chen to 10 years and five months in prison, Wang to two years and six months and Cheng Chia-hong to one year and four months.
In a second trial this year, the Kaohsiung High Court upheld the sentence for Chen but commuted Cheng Chia-hong’s sentence to four years of probation, while Wang withdrew the appeal before the verdict, making the sentence final.
Chen and her son appealed again to the Supreme Court, which did not find a reason for further appeal, making their verdicts final.
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