The Taipei District Court today sentenced former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) to 16 years in prison and deprived him of his civil rights for six years for corruption and fraud.
Chen’s wife, Hsu Hui-yu (徐慧諭), was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison and deprived of her civil rights for three years.
The ruling can be appealed.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, which had sought a sentence of 24 years and two months for Chen, said it would decide whether to appeal after receiving the written judgement.
Chen, who served three terms as the legislative representative of Yilan County, was accused of accepting bribes from a Keelung-based logistics company and a car rental firm.
He allegedly received NT$50,000 (US$1,575) per month — or a total of NT$4.13 million — in “consulting fees” from United Logistics International Co (ULIC, 聯興國際物流股份有限公司) owner Hung Cheng-ying (洪英正).
Chen was bribed to use his position as a legislator to propose amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) that would benefit ULIC, such as reducing port rental and operating fees, prosecutors said.
Chen also allegedly took NT$500,000 in bribes from a car rental company headed by a man surnamed Hsiao (蕭) to propose revisions to laws regulating taxis, Uber and the passenger transport sector to restrict competition that could adversely affect Hsiao’s business, they said.
Chen was also accused of fraudulently claiming more than NT$4.11 million in subsidies for legislative assistants during his tenure, the indictment said.
Sixteen people, including Chen and his wife, were indicted in August last year on corruption, fraud, money laundering and embezzlement charges.
DPP anti-corruption committee head Chiou Jiunn-yann (邱駿彥) said that the committee would convene on Wednesday next week to discuss the case.
Under party regulations, the most severe disciplinary measure is expulsion, he added.
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