The indictment of a public sector recycling worker in Taipei on corruption charges for giving an elderly woman a discarded rice cooker valued at NT$32 (US$1) — a case that could carry heavy penalties — has prompted the judiciary to discuss sentencing practices for minor corruption offenses.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office in a statement yesterday said that it has instructed prosecutors nationwide to request that courts exempt defendants from punishment or grant a suspended sentence in cases similar to the one involving the recycling worker.
The Ministry of Justice previously said that it had proposed an amendment to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) to allow reduced or waived sentences for minor cases.
Photo: Taipei Times file
That amendment is pending legislative review, after the Executive Yuan adopted it at a meeting last month, the ministry said.
Taipei prosecutors on June 17 last year charged Huang (黃), a member of the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection sanitation team, with corruption after the case was referred to them by the department's ethics unit.
The charge carries a minimum prison sentence of five years and a fine of up to NT$30 million, as it involves the embezzlement of private property by a civil servant in the course of their duties.
Huang's supervisor, Chao Hsin-tsen (卓昕岑), who heads the sanitation team's office in Beitou District (北投), said that Huang admitted to taking the rice cooker and giving it to the elderly woman, but said that he had no ill intentions and was only trying to help.
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