Former Taichung County Council speaker Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), an influential leader in the grassroots politics of central Taiwan, was sentenced to 20 years yesterday on charges of graft and attempted murder.
Yen, leader of central Taiwan's most powerful local faction and chairman of the renowned Chenlan Temple, was also found guilty by the Taichung District Court of illegal possession of firearms and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Chang Ching-tang (
In reading the verdict, trial judge Chuang Shen-yuan (
Yen, after receiving the verdict, shouted while leaving the courtroom: "It's nothing but political persecution."
A former KMT member and now supporter of People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), Yen claimed his indictment was the result of a political struggle.
Yen's wife, Hou Li-chuan (
Yen, now 41, was elected as speaker of the Taichung County Council in 1998, at the same time as Chang became its vice speaker.
The court found the three defendants had spent millions of NT dollars of taxpayers' money between 1998 and last year to cover their expenditures at hostess bars and KTV lounges.
It was found that the trio, who had patronized such establishments every two or three days, had spent a total of over NT$30 million from the council's budget and still owed some NT$10 million in unpaid bills to various hostess bars.
In his ruling, the judge condemned the defendants' abuse of public office and ordered the three to return the NT$30 million to the state treasury.
In a government crackdown on organized crime in 1986, Yen spent three and a half years in Green Island's maximum-security prison. His participation in local politics began soon after he was released.
As a member of the KMT's "black faction" (
Under the attempted murder charge, the court found Yen guilty of masterminding the 1996 shooting of a man believed to have tried to blackmail him via telephone calls.
It was also found that in July 1996, Yen had organized his cronies to find a scapegoat to take the rap for his brother, who was wanted for his involvement in another shooting.
In the ruling yesterday, the court sentenced Yen to 20 years in jail plus a fine of NT$10 million. Chang and Tsai were both sentenced to 12 years as well as fines of NT$10 million and NT$2 million respectively.
A grassroots political leader of the KMT, Yen was courted by James Soong (
In the run-up to the election, he threw his support behind Soong, resulting in his expulsion from the KMT.
Aside from his political power, Yen is also known as chairman of the Chen Lan Temple (
DISINFORMATION: Government agencies should be ready to clarify misinformation on Douyin and Xiaohongshu, as they have a large user base in Taiwan, the bureau said More Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong or Macau have been detained or faced trials since Beijing implemented the Anti-Espionage Law and Law on Guarding State Secrets, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Since July last year, 15 Taiwanese have been detained or undergone trials after entering China and the two special administrative regions, while 51 have been interrogated by border officers, Tsai said, adding that the number of cases is increasing. “We respect the Mainland Affairs Council’s decision to raise the travel alert for China from ‘yellow’ to ‘orange,’ meaning that people should avoid non-essential travel.
BUSY DAY: After he met with the president and signed an economic development deal, the governor said it was ‘incredibly important that Texas shows solidarity with Taiwan’ Visiting Texas Governor Greg Abbott yesterday announced the opening of a state trade office in downtown Taipei to enhance cooperation and show that “Texas stands with Taiwan.” The State of Texas Taiwan Office is the second foreign office Texas has opened in the 21st century after Mexico, Abbott told a news conference in Taipei. “It shows that other than our geographic neighbor, Texas understands the importance of establishing an office in the country of Taiwan,” he said. “It is incredibly important that Texas shows solidarity with Taiwan, not just for the businesses of Taiwan and Texas — it is important for the entire
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify