The Supreme Court yesterday upheld the High Court’s ruling that acquitted former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) of fraud over a dual--nationality controversy. The ruling is final.
In September 2009, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Lee on charges of fraud, accusing her of intentionally concealing her US citizenship during her term as a Taipei City councilor and three terms as a legislator.
In the first trial, the Taipei District Court sentenced Lee to two years in prison. In the second trial, the Taiwan High Court acquitted her on Aug. 23.
It was the High Court’s view that while the approval of Lee’s eligibility for the post had been an administrative error, her tenure as city councilor and legislator was not interrupted and payment she received was not fraudulent.
The Supreme Court said the prosecution’s charge of fraud and forgery were items that were given closure in the second trial, and under the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法) such a case may not be appealed for a third trial.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said the ruling was -unjust, saying Lee deceived the public for years and had violated the law.
“The Taiwanese people had placed their hopes in the Supreme Court’s ruling to give justice to the people, but we see the judiciary system of modern Taiwan does not serve justice anymore,” Chen said.
“If what is obviously illegal can result in a ruling of ‘not guilty,’ what kind of credibility does the judiciary system of Taiwan have?” DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said. “It goes to show that the courts are all owned by the KMT.”
Officials from the Legislative Yuan said they would respect the ruling, adding that as the Legislative Yuan never made the decision to retrieve the salary paid to Lee, there was no problem with the money she received.
Additional reporting by Chiu Yan-ling
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
RSS