The Taiwan High Court yesterday rejected an appeal by former Taipei City councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如) against her 2014 corruption conviction, but reduced her prison sentence to nine years in prison.
The Taipei District Court in 2014 found Lai guilty of corruption for seeking a NT$15 million (US$472,798 at current exchange rates) kickback from a consortium led by Taipei Gateway International Development Co (TGID, 太極雙星) in return for ensuring that it won the tender to develop the proposed Taipei Twin Towers (台北雙子星大樓) project near the Taipei Railway Station in October 2012 with a NT$70 billion bid.
“Lai held an important government post, but chose to receive bribes, which damaged the public’s trust in government officials to carry out their duties in a fair and equitable manner,” the original indictment said. “Since Lai has consistently refused to admit that she violated the law, the court should mete out a heavy punishment in this case.”
Photo: Hsiang Cheng-chen, Taipei Times
The Taipei District Court sentenced Lai to 10 years in prison.
However, in its ruling, the High Court said that sentencing a government official to more than nine years in prison for a corruption conviction is considered a “heavy punishment,” so it had therefore decided to reduce her sentence to nine years.
Its decision can be appealed.
An attorney, Lai holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in law from the Chinese Culture University.
She was a close aide to former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and had been a leading KMT politician in Taipei, serving four terms as a city councilor.
Lai, who was a member of the KMT Central Standing Committee, also worked as the director for Ma’s presidential campaign office in 2012 and was a legal counsel for the Presidential Office during Ma’s tenure.
Due to Lai’s close political ties with Ma, the High Court verdict is believed to have tainted Ma. It also left corruption stigma and unanswered questions surrounding former KMT Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who was in office when Lai took the bribe.
Yesterday’s court statement by presiding judge Chou Ying-wen (周盈文) said that Lai had brought disgrace to all public officials.
She has shown no remorse, tried to cover up her tracks and sought justification for her actions, the statement said.
During her High Court trial, Lai denied receiving any bribes and said the money she had received was a “political donation.”
However, the High Court said judicial investigators had put wiretaps on Cheng Hung-dao (程宏道) and Jia Er-ching (賈二慶), two of the main figures behind the TGID bid, where they were heard discussing the payment of a bribe with Lai, the court statement said.
Lai yesterday said that she deeply regrets the ruling.
She said she would defend her innocence with her life and that after receiving the official court ruling she would appeal to the Supreme Court.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS