The High Court yesterday upheld a not-guilty verdict for three defendants, including former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in connection with a case involving the sale of three media companies by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that resulted in significant losses.
The case can be appealed.
Ma was indicted in 2018 and acquitted by the Taipei District Court in October 2021.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Prosecutors said he was involved in negotiations over the sale of China Television Co (中視), Broadcasting Corp of China (中廣) and Central Motion Picture Co (中影) at below market value between 2005 and 2007, causing losses to the KMT-controlled Central Investment Co (中央投資) of more than NT$7.2 billion (US$229 million at the current exchange rate).
Charges were brought against three defendants: Ma, former Central Investment chairman Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) and former general manager Wang Hai-ching (汪海清).
The charges included contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) through special breach of trust.
In the October 2021 ruling, all three defendants were acquitted.
Also indicted were former KMT legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), his wife, Queena Hung (洪菱霙), and her father, Hung Hsin-hsing (洪信行), on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust, money laundering, irregular stock transactions and contraventions of the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法).
Tsai was sentenced to three years and six months of imprisonment for embezzlement and a further six months for contravening the Business Entity Accounting Act, commutable to a fine.
Prosecutors said that Tsai brokered the deal and exploited his position as a legislator to embezzle company proceeds, siphoning off up to NT$280.33 million through his company, Apollo Investment Co (阿波羅投資).
The High Court also upheld his verdict.
Prosecutors delivered closing arguments in their appeal to the High Court on Sept. 5 last year, and the defendants were summoned on Sept. 8 for further questioning, during which they again pleaded not guilty.
In yesterday’s ruling, the amount of criminal proceeds subject to confiscation was reduced from NT$280.32 million to NT$239.19 million, but an additional NT$41.13 million was ordered confiscated from Hung.
The High Prosecutors’ Office said it would deliberate whether to appeal again.
The case has been in litigation for seven years, with more than three years of High Court proceedings, and the six defendants have denied any wrongdoing throughout the proceedings.
Ma’s office in a statement issued yesterday said the former president is deeply relieved and grateful that justice has been upheld.
It also thanked the judiciary for its fairness and the judges for their impartial adjudication.
Ma claimed that the case was initiated by the Democratic Progressive Party in collaboration with certain media outlets and prosecutors, and that the outcome proved his innocence.
Additional reporting by CNA
US President Donald Trump said "it’s up to" Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be "very unhappy" with a change in the "status quo," the New York Times said in an interview published yesterday. Xi "considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing," Trump told the newspaper on Wednesday. "But I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that," he added. "I hope he doesn’t do that." Trump made the comments in
Tourism in Kenting fell to a historic low for the second consecutive year last year, impacting hotels and other local businesses that rely on a steady stream of domestic tourists, the latest data showed. A total of 2.139 million tourists visited Kenting last year, down slightly from 2.14 million in 2024, the data showed. The number of tourists who visited the national park on the Hengchun Peninsula peaked in 2015 at 8.37 million people. That number has been below 2.2 million for two years, although there was a spike in October last year due to multiple long weekends. The occupancy rate for hotels
Japanese footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger today issued a public apology and said it has suspended an employee amid allegations that the staff member discriminated against a Vietnamese customer at its Taipei 101 store. Posting on the social media platform Threads yesterday, a user said that an employee at the store said that “those shoes are very expensive” when her friend, who is a migrant worker from Vietnam, asked for assistance. The employee then ignored her until she asked again, to which she replied: "We don't have a size 37." The post had amassed nearly 26,000 likes and 916 comments as of this
A cold surge advisory was today issued for 18 cities and counties across Taiwan, with temperatures of below 10°C forecast during the day and into tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. New Taipei City, Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties are expected to experience sustained temperatures of 10°C or lower, the CWA said. Temperatures are likely to temporarily drop below 10°C in most other areas, except Taitung, Pingtung, Penghu and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, CWA data showed. The cold weather is being caused by a strong continental cold air mass, combined with radiative cooling, a process in which heat escapes from
RSS