The Supreme Court on Monday last week upheld a decision to sentence two former police officers to prison terms of at least eight years for demanding or taking bribes from migrant workers.
The case originally involved three ex-officers, but one was later given a reduced sentence while the remaining two appealed their guilty verdicts, which resulted in the Supreme Court’s ruling.
From October 2012 to August 2014, the men, who were stationed at the Taipei Police Department’s Datong Precinct, took cash and gold necklaces from migrant workers who had absconded from their jobs in exchange for not handing them over to the National Immigration Agency, the court said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
Former officer Lin Chang-ling (林長玲) took and demanded bribes valued at NT$79,000 from 2012 to 2014, while former officers Lin Yi-hui (林奕輝) and Tsai Chih-wei (蔡志偉) took bribes totaling NT$33,000, the court said.
Their case was first heard by the Taipei District Court, which in March 2017 sentenced Lin Chang-ling to 10 years in prison, Tsai to nine years and four months, and Lin Yi-hui to four years.
Lin Chang-ling was found guilty of forced seizure of workers’ property in addition to demanding and taking bribes, and Tsai’s sentence was based on him demanding bribes in addition to taking them.
Following an appeal, the Taiwan High Court in March 2019 upheld the sentences for Lin Chang-ling and Tsai, while reducing Lin Yi-hui’s sentence to three years and four months.
The case was then sent to the Supreme Court, which in December 2019 remanded it to the High Court due to a lack of evidence showing that Lin Chang-ling had extorted migrants and seized their property, and that Tsai had demanded bribes.
In a retrial in December last year, the High Court sentenced Lin Chang-ling to nine years and two months in prison after finding him guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), and sentenced Tsai to eight years.
Lin Yi-hui’s sentence was reduced to 24 months and he was granted probation, as he had admitted to wrongdoing and donated NT$1,500 each month to the Taiwan International Workers’ Association between June 2017 and November last year, which showed that he had repented and sought to compensate for his actions, the High Court said.
Lin Chang-ling and Tsai appealed the ruling, resulting in the latest verdict.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by