Two universities yesterday said they had canceled former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Ho Chih-hui’s (何智輝) lectures as well as his accreditation as a lecturer, since Ho has been on the run from the law amid allegations of his role in a bribery scandal involving members of the judiciary.
Ho had been scheduled to lecture at National United University (NUU) and Yu Da University (YDU), both in Miaoli County. NUU announced it had canceled Ho’s classes on the transformation of local governance and political and economic developments in the Taiwan Strait, scheduled for next semester.
YDU said it had canceled Ho’s class on political and economic development in China.
Both schools said Ho’s accreditations as a lecturer were also canceled.
NUU students left messages on the school’s Web site ridiculing Ho and his classes.
“Let us take the class in China,” one post said, reflecting investigators’ concerns Ho could attempt to flee to China.
“If the lecturer skips his class, do we get two free credits?” another asked.
Students also questioned how Ho, who apparently jumped from the window of his house and escaped before investigators could arrest him, could teach students how to behave in school.
Students said it was ridiculous for the school to hire a lecturer who had received a heavy sentence for corruption.
NUU said Ho, who has a master’s degree and had served as Miaoli County commissioner, as well as a legislator, was approved by the school’s Center for General Education to be a lecturer.
YDU said it had hired Ho because of his familiarity with law, as well as political and economic practice in China.
Taiwan High Court Judges Chen Jung-ho (陳榮和), Lee Chun-ti (李春地) and Tsai Kuang-chih (蔡光治) and Banciao prosecutor Chiu Mao-jung (邱茂榮) were detained on July 14 on suspicion of corruption when handling four charges against Ho.
The four are suspected of taking or facilitating bribes offered by Ho in return for overturning a lower court’s guilty verdict in a corruption case stemming from his time as a legislator. Sentenced in 2006 to 19 years in prison for receiving kickbacks during the development phase of the Tongluo expansion of Hsinchu Science Park in Miaoli County, Ho saw his sentence overturned by the Taiwan High Court in May.
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