Taipei City Councilor Chen Chung-wen (陳重文) was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison today under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) for fraudulently obtaining nearly NT$3.7 million (US$112,000) from a government contract.
Of the 8.5 years, six months are convertible to a fine at NT$1,000 a day.
Chen, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and his friend Kang Li-chi (康立錡) set up a company to partake in the Taiwan Intelligent Fiber Optic Network Consortium (TAIFO) while hiding the former’s involvement by listing the latter as its director.
Photo: Chen Tsai-ling, Taipei Times
Chen then pressured the Taipei Department of Social Services to award a contract to the TAIFO, which then subcontracted out the project to Kang, who in turn had a separate company under his name actually carry out the work.
Through this arrangement, both men were able to illegally gain from the government contract, with Chen earning NT$3.09 million and Kang obtaining NT$610,000.
Chen was also found guilty of forging signatures and entering false statements, although he was acquitted on charges related to falsely inflating the value of one of his companies, with his wife also receiving a NT$200,000 fine and a suspended two-year sentence.
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