Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Tsai Hau (蔡豪) yesterday was given a one-year prison sentence by the High Court for his involvement in a fraudulent land deal.
Gary Wang (王令麟), chairman of Eastern Multimedia Group (東森多媒體) and son of the fugitive former chairman of Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸集團) Wang You-theng (王又曾), was sentenced to 22 months in jail in the same case.
The High Court yesterday said Tsai had perpetrated a breach of trust while Gary Wang violated the Business Entity Accounting Law (商業會計法).
Tsai and Wang were both involved in a land deal between Far Eastern Silo and Shipping (FESS, 遠倉) and the Taiwan Development and Trust Corp (TDTC, 台開) in 1999.
The High Court said FESS chairman Wang purchased land in Yangmei (楊梅) Township, Taoyuan County, from Chu Chieh-tseng (朱介曾) on behalf of the company for NT$845 million (US$25.3 million) in 1998, a price higher than the value of the property at the time.
Chu had bought the land in 1995 for NT$500 million.
Wang embezzled money to the value of the difference between the price paid and the actual value of the land from the firm.
The High Court said that Wang then proposed to sell the land to TDTC, and as a board member of TDTC, Tsai helped facilitate the transaction between TDTC and FESS when he pushed the board to decide to buy the land in Yangmei in November 1999.
The court said Tsai had inflated the price of the land and TDTC later bought the land at a price that was higher than the market value.
The judge ruled that Wang and Tsai stole money in under-the-table profits through the sale of the land.
TDTC and FESS lost a total of NT$1.2 billion in the two illegal deals, the court said.
Under the Criminal Law (刑法), in convictions involving minor crimes, such as a breach of trust, defendants are unable to appeal their case to the Supreme Court. Therefore, Tsai cannot appeal his sentence, but Wang is able to appeal his conviction at the Supreme Court.
Wang yesterday issued a statement following the trial, saying he would appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
When asked for his comments, Tsai said that he didn't deserve his sentence.
"Being a legislator, I should set an example and show respect for the justice system," he said. "I don't know what else I can say about the verdict as it was a matter of the court's discretion."
"I gave lots of evidence in the court in attempt to demonstrate that I did not perpetrate a breach of trust, but the judge did not listen to my evidence," Tsai said.
Tsai, whose constituency is in Pingtung County, said he would continue his campaign for the upcoming legislative elections.
However, under Article 34 of the Public Service Election and Recall Law (公職人員選舉罷免法), Tsai is disqualified from running for the election. The article stipulates that anyone who has been convicted of a crime and has either not yet started their sentence or not yet completed their full sentence are not allowed to register to be a candidate.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
Taiwanese barista Xie Yi-chen (謝溢宸) recently triumphed at the 2024 World Coffee Championships, taking home 1st place in the World Latte Art category. Xie, 28, impressed the judges in the final round with patterns of a whale, a moose, and a dragon in the three-day competition that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark from June 27-29, clinching the title of latte art world champion during his first time representing Taiwan on the world stage. At a press conference held by the Taiwan Coffee Association on Thursday, Xie said that creating latte art gives him a tremendous feeling of achievement. Speaking about his entries in
The annual Taipei Summer Festival, which starts today, is to tone down its fireworks displays, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said on Monday. Fireworks displays are to be held at the riverside site in Datong District’s (大同) Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area on four days at this year’s festival, with the first today, and then on Wednesday next week, July 31 and Aug. 10, the department said. There were eight displays last year, with the reduction aimed at minimizing inconvenience to local residents, it said. The first three shows, which are all on Wednesdays, are to last for five minutes, while the final
EYE ON MAYORS: The DPP would file a complaint with the Control Yuan against Ko and Chiang over their handling of reports of abuse at a preschool in the city The Taipei City Government’s belated response under Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and his predecessor, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), to alleged child sex abuse at a kindergarten resulted in more children being victimized, two Taipei City Councilors said yesterday. A Taipei preschool teacher has been charged with sexually abusing six children from 2021 to last year at a school registered to his mother. Prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges amid a wave of new accusations allegedly linking the suspect to 20 other abused children and the discovery at his residence of more than 600 sexually explicit videos featuring minors. The