Former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison for accepting bribes.
"As one of the government's top officials, Chen's behavior has seriously damaged the government's image. His behavior was unscrupulous," the Taipei District Court ruling said.
The ruling said Chen received NT$6 million (US$184,400) from developer Liang Po-hsun (梁柏薰) to bribe the judges in Liang's embezzlement trial.
After Liang was given his final sentence of 14 months in jail in January 2004, Chen returned NT$3 million to him, but kept the rest.
To cultivate a close connection with the Presidential Office official, the ruling said Liang gave Chen NT$1 million in cash when they first met in 2002.
Later that year, he gave Chen NT$1.1 million when he attended the funeral of Chen's mother. Then in late 2002, he gave Chen NT$6 million to use for bribes.
Liang fled to China in 2004 after being found guilty of embezzling funds from the Overseas Chinese Bank. He returned to Taiwan on April 2 this year to accuse Chen of embezzling his money. Liang was arrested upon his arrival at the then CKS International Airport.
Liang used a sauna owner named Yang Chen-feng (
Chen was found not guilty of insider trading, the ruling said, for making a profit of almost NT$1.6 million in Chihkan Technology Co shares after he met the company's chairman.
Chen will be able to appeal his conviction and sentence to the Taiwan High Court.
He faces even more legal woes because he has also been indicted for his alleged involvement in the corruption scandal surrounding the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp.
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
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