The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) to seven years and six months in prison for his role in a 2020 corruption case.
Liao was found guilty of soliciting NT$700,000 in bribes from Kung Hsiang-ke (孔祥科), who worked for New Taipei City-based Number Media Ltd, a provider of cloud computing and big data services.
The company is affiliated with Huizhong IOT Hong Kong Technology Ltd, which is itself owned by Chinese IT firm Inspur Co.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
In 2018, Number Media sought approval from the Investment Commission to raise its capital. The request was suspended after the commission found it was engaging in business activities beyond its permitted scope, Taipei prosecutors said.
In March 2020, Number Media hired Kung as a consultant on a contract basis to lobby lawmakers for the capital increase.
A month later, he approached Liao, who directed his office chief, Ting Fu-hua (丁復華), to handle the matter, prosecutors said.
At the time, prosecutors alleged that to secure approval for the request, Kung had paid NT$700,000 to Liao through Ting, who kept NT$200,000 as a commission.
In August last year, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Liao, Ting and Kung on charges of corruption.
During the trial, Liao denied any wrongdoing, while Ting and Kung admitted to the offenses during questioning, the court said.
The former lawmaker was found to have held coordination meetings with the commission and the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Industrial Development Administration (then the Industrial Development Bureau) regarding the capital increase request, and that he and Ting took the money from Kung in return.
The Taipei court sentenced Liao to seven years and six months in prison and stripped him of his civil rights for three years, while Ting received a sentence of one year and four months and was deprived of his civil rights for two years.
Kung received a four-month sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to pay NT$100,000, while being deprived of his civil rights for one year. Their rulings can be appealed.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS