The Taipei District Court yesterday sentenced Lin Chang-cheng (
Twenty thousand people were evacuated from the shopping venue when the fire broke out on Feb. 18 this year.
Another two suspects, Wang Lin-kwun (
Wang is a close friend of Lin Chang-cheng's and owned a shop selling Chinese teapots on the mall's seventh floor. Lin Ching-chi is Wang's uncle.
According to the verdict, Lin Chang-cheng was upset with Core Pacific Group Chairman Shen Ching-ching's (
The verdict also says that Lin Chang-cheng then lured Wang to take part in the arson by offering him NT$100,000, and that they initially planned to destroy the mall's power system by means of a fire during business hours.
The court's findings say Wang invited his uncle Lin Ching-chi to start the fire.
According to the court, Lin Ching-chi filled empty mineral-water bottles with gasoline and set them alight in the electricity room on the mall's third floor.
"Lin Chang-cheng ignored public safety by masterminding the arson because of his personal problems at work and invited Wang and Lin Ching-chi to join the plan. Both Lin Ching-chi and Wang showed remorse for their crimes after they were arrested. So the court issued a four-year sentence for Lin Chang-cheng and three years and eight months for both Wang and Lin Ching-chi," said a court spokesman.
An unnamed Core Pacific official yesterday was quoted as saying that the damage to the company's reputation had been greater than its financial losses.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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