First Commercial Bank (第一銀行) chairman Jerome Chen (陳建隆) was indicted yesterday for using bank resources in bank supervisor Charles Chiang's (江昭儀) DPP legislative primary election bid.
The Taipei District Prosecutors office charged Chen with breach of trust and recommended that the court announce its verdict in summary procedure, calling Chen's confession during its investigation and other evidence sufficient for the court to render a guilty verdict.
The prosecution said that during the investigation Chen agreed to accept a penalty of less than 50 days in prison and a fine of NT$578,000 -- the sum of money he misused -- without a suspension of his sentence.
The scandal was revealed by PFP legislator Chen Chao-jung (
Chiang was to run in February's DPP legislative primary in Changhua County. In a bid to help Chiang win the election, Chen, in his capacity as bank chairman, sent letters to the bank's clients in the county, asking them to vote for Chiang.
According to the indictment, Chen ordered the printing of the 126,486 letters, which cost NT$110,000. The address labels on the envelops were estimated to cost NT$25,297 and postage for the letters came to NT$442,701, all financed with bank funds.
The prosecutors said Chen misused bank resources to carry out affairs irrelevant to the business of the bank or his position as chairman.
The Ministry of Finance fined Chen NT$60,000 earlier this month for using confidential customer information to help Chiang's campaign bid. The ministry also asked Chen to return the money he misused. Chen earlier expressed repentance and said he would not misuse his post again.
Opposition party lawmakers have criticized Minister of Finance Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) for allowing Chen to remain in his position as the bank's chairman.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a