The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict for Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) on charges of insider trading and market manipulation in a second ruling, handing him an eight-month prison term and ordering repayment of NT$63 million (US$2.07 million) in illegal profits.
Fu was found guilty of contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) in 2003 by manipulating the stock price of Hold-Key Electric Wire and Cable Co (合機電線電纜), when he was a People First Party (PFP) legislator.
Legal proceedings began in August 2005, with the case winding through courts for 12 years. Yesterday’s decision can be appealed.
In the first ruling in 2008, the Taichung District Court found Fu guilty, imposing a 54-month prison term and a NT$50 million fine.
After an appeal, the Taichung branch of the High Court in 2010 found him guilty, handing down a 42-month prison term and a NT$40 million fine.
However, the Taipei branch of the High Court ordered a retrial, which reduced his prison time to nine months.
Following a subsequent appeal, the Supreme Court in 2014 returned the case to the High Court for a second retrial.
In yesterday’s ruling, the court said that as Fu’s insider trading and market manipulation took place in 2003, a penalty reduction was applied based on the 2007 Sentence Commutation Statutes (罪犯減刑條例), as well as the Fair and Speedy Criminal Trials Act (刑事妥速審判法).
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) questioned whether Fu received “preferential treatment from the justice system,” citing Fu’s involvement in the 1998 Typhone Food Co case.
“All defendants in the Typhone and Hold-Key cases have been serving their jail sentences, except for Fu, who was the main figure,” Tuan said. “The courts have handed him reduced terms, with more lenient sentences after each ruling, and he can still appeal the verdict.”
“Fu should be invited as a special guest at the ongoing judicial reform meetings,” Tuan added.
While Fu was elected as Hualien County commissioner as an independent, his political affiliation has leaned toward the pan-blue camp, as he began his political career with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) before joining the PFP in 2000.
Fu ran for the a legislative seat as elections in 2001 and 2005 as a PFP member, then registered to run in the Hualien County commissioner election as a KMT member in 2009, but was later expelled from the KMT.
In 2009, Fu controversially appointed his wife, now-KMT Legislator Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), as Hualien County deputy commissioner, which was predicated on the couple filing for divorce.
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
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
A woman who allegedly spiked the food and drinks of an Australian man with rat poison, leaving him in intensive care, has been charged with attempted murder, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. The woman, identified by her surname Yang (楊), is accused of repeatedly poisoning Alex Shorey over the course of several months last year to prevent the Australian man from leaving Taiwan, prosecutors said in a statement. Shorey was evacuated back to Australia on May 3 last year after being admitted to intensive care in Taiwan. According to prosecutors, Yang put bromadiolone, a rodenticide that prevents blood from
A Japanese space rocket carrying a Taiwanese satellite blasted off yesterday, but was later seen spiraling downward in the distance as the company said the launch attempt had failed. It was the second attempt by the Japanese start-up Space One to become the country’s first private firm to put a satellite into orbit, after its first try in March ended in a mid-air explosion. This time, its solid-fuel Kairos rocket had been carrying five satellites, including one from the Taiwan Space Agency and others designed by Japanese students and corporate ventures. Spectators gathered near the company’s coastal Spaceport Kii launch pad in Japan’s
RSS