The Taiwan High Court yesterday quashed a two-year sentence handed down to former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) by a lower court and acquitted her of fraud over a dual-nationality controversy.
The court said prosecutors could appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
In March 2008, a number of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers sued Lee for fraud and corruption because she maintained US citizenship while serving as a Taipei city councilor and then as a legislator. Elected officials are not allowed to hold dual citizenship.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
At the time, Lee claimed she mistakenly believed her US citizenship would automatically become invalid when she took up a public position.
In January 2009, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office received confirmation from the US Department of State that Lee’s US citizenship remained valid.
Prosecutors said that on personnel forms she filled out as a Taipei City councilor in 1994 and during her three terms as a lawmaker starting in 1998, Lee deliberately left blank a field asking whether she held citizenship from a country other than the Republic of China.
In September 2009, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Lee on charges of fraud. Prosecutors accused Lee of intentionally concealing her US citizenship during one term as a Taipei city councilor and three terms as a legislator, during which she was paid more than NT$100 million (US$3 million).
On Feb. 5 last year, the Taipei District Court found her guilty on four counts of fraud and sentenced her to two years in prison.
The Taiwan High Court’s ruling said that although Lee had dual citizenship and her elected status should have been invalidated by the Central Election Committee, the commission had maintained Lee’s elected status, which was an administrative error. Nevertheless, because Lee maintained her position as a Taipei City councilor and legislator, accepting her salary could not be seen as fraud, the ruling said.
The Taipei City Council, the commission and the legislature were obliged to examine Lee’s citizenship status during her terms as a councilor and as a legislator, but those agencies never questioned Lee about her citizenship status, and because Lee was able to keep her status, taking her salary could not be regarded as fraud, the ruling said.
Lee, daughter of former premier Lee Huan (李煥), said in a statement that she felt relieved that justice had been served.
KMT Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said it was “unfair” to accuse Diane Lee of fraud since she had performed well as both a city councilor and as a legislator.
However, the DPP said the ruling went against people’s expectations and common sense.
The ruling was like a “game--fixing call,” said DPP spokesman Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄).
The public was not happy with the Taipei District Court’s ruling in the first trial because it did not charge Lee with corruption and yet yeterday’s verdict was even more shocking, he said.
Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑), another DPP spokesman, said the ruling could set a dangerous precedent because it was the first case involving public servants’ dual citizenship, which is prohibited by the Nationality Act (國籍法).
“By pronouncing Lee innocent, you’re telling public servants they do not commit a crime by holding dual citizenship, although they will be discharged from their duties, and that they don’t need to return their salaries,” Liang said. “You’re encouraging people to commit crimes and cheat.”
Lee’s argument that she thought she had lost her US citizenship the moment she was sworn in as a councilor was unsupportable because she questioned Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), then-deputy mayor of Taipei, about his dual citizenship and demanded he resign in 1995, Liang said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS