Taipei City Councilor Chen Chung-wen (陳重文) was yesterday sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of illegally obtaining more than NT$3.7 million (US$113,081) for himself and a business partner through a public project.
According to the Taipei District Court ruling, Chen was found guilty of corruption and a range of other offenses related to his involvement in a city government procurement project.
Six months of the sentence could be commuted to a fine of approximately NT$180,000, the ruling said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Chen, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) who has served as a city councilor since December 2014, said he would discuss the ruling with his attorney before deciding whether to appeal the court’s decision.
The court found that Chen had used his position to pressure the Taipei Department of Social Welfare and the Taiwan Intelligent Fiber Optic Network Consortium on multiple occasions last year.
Because of that pressure, the social welfare department awarded a contract for the installation of cloud-based CCTV systems across the city’s public nursing care centers to the consortium, the court said.
It subcontracted the project to a company Chen set up with his business partner Kang Li-chi (康立錡) in July last year, the ruling said, before passing the project to Kang’s own company, Vqorder Co.
Through these dealings, Chen made nearly NT$3.09 million in illegal gains, and Kang made NT$610,845, the ruling said.
In pressuring the social welfare department for his own benefit, Chen violated a provision in Article 6 of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), according to the court.
The provision mandates a sentence of at least five years for “using the opportunity provided by one’s position or status for unlawful gains for oneself or for others in matters under his or her charge or supervision while clearly knowing the act violates the law.”
Chen was also convicted of falsely inflating the capital of the company he cofounded with Kang as well as his other company.
Chen’s wife, Pai Hui-ping (白惠萍), who had managed his finances, was given a one-year sentence, suspended for two years, for her involvement in the case.
Her sentence could be commuted to a fine, but she was ordered to pay an additional NT$200,000 to the public treasury.
Kang received a three-year suspended sentence and was ordered to pay NT$300,000 to the public treasury and complete 100 hours of community service.
Chen and the others were indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on July 19, with the 47-year-old city councilor charged with seeking illegal gains, forging documents and embezzlement, among other offenses.
Prosecutors had called for heavy punishment for Chen, citing in particular his repeated requests for documents from the social welfare department and questioning of the department’s officials during city council meetings, among other means of exerting pressure.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS