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.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial