Taipei District Court judges presiding over former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee’s (李慶安) dual citizenship case yesterday said they may consider trying her for corruption — which carries more serious consequences than the fraud and forgery charges she was indicted for.
During her trial, Lee told the court she did nothing wrong during her terms as legislator. She admitted to being a US citizen during her service, but said she had mistakenly believed that public officials automatically lose their US citizenship status when they are sworn in.
The judges remained skeptical, however, saying that if Lee was misinformed on related legislation, she would not have called on former Taipei deputy mayor Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) to step down in 1994 when she questioned him regarding his US citizenship.
PHOTO: CNA
The judges have scheduled an additional trial date to decide whether to try Lee for violating the Punishment of Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
If convicted of corruption, Lee could face more than seven years in prison.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Lee said: “We respect the court’s decision.”
Her attorney, Chuang Hsiu-ming (莊秀銘), said they were confident about the case.
Lee’s dual citizenship scandal first emerged in March last year, when the Chinese-language Next Magazine reported that she still possessed a US passport.
The Nationality Act (國籍法) prohibits government officials from holding dual citizenship and requires that those who are dual citizens give up their foreign citizenship before assuming office.
In January, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office received official confirmation from the US State Department that Lee’s US citizenship remained valid.
Prosecutors allege that in the 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 the field asking whether she held citizenship from any country other than the Republic of China.
Prosecutors say that the more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) in income Lee earned during her terms as councilor and lawmaker were therefore gained illegally because Lee held the positions illegally.
The money includes NT$22.68 million in income and public funds from her term as city councilor and NT$80.09 million from three terms as legislator.
Lee resigned from the KMT last December and gave up her position early this year.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with