The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a High Court ruling that former Nantou County commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) serve a sentence of more than 22 years in prison.
The ruling is final.
Lee was convicted of 98 charges connected to kickbacks from contractors tasked with reconstructing damages caused by Typhoon Morakot in 2009 and has been serving his sentence since 2018.
Photo: Hsieh Chieh-yu, Taipei Times
Although his guilty sentence was final, Lee filed appeals to the court for leniency for several reasons, including being a first-time offender, his advanced age of 74 years and frail health.
He also said that the prosecutors assigned to his case improperly divided the same criminal act into multiple charges, that the amount of ill-gotten profits from the crimes was relatively minor and he had surrendered the sum in full.
Lee said that he had repented for his crimes and become a devout Buddhist since being imprisoned.
He asked for his sentence to be reduced to 17 years and six months.
Writing in a verdict later upheld by the Supreme Court, the High Court’s Taichung branch said the prosecutors had rightfully charged Lee under the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Lee could not be properly deemed a first offender, since the crime’s commission occurred across a two-year period, it said.
The length of Lee’s sentence was appropriate for the number and gravity of his convictions, the court said, adding that the former commissioner would be sentenced to 656 years in prison had the courts combined his terms.
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