Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), who is former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) son, was sentenced to one year in jail for his role in a money-laundering scheme connected to corruption cases in which the extended family is involved.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday handed down the one-year sentence combined with a fine of NT$1.5 million (US$48,796) to the younger Chen.
In the same case, Chen Chih-chung’s wife, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚), received a 10-month sentence suspended for four years and a NT$1 million fine.
Photo: Ge Yu-hao, Taipei Times
Chen Chih-chung wrote on Facebook in response to the ruling that he would “bravely take the road ahead whatever hardships might lie there.”
The Kaohsiung City Council said that his seat would be vacated.
The Executive Yuan ordered that his seat be vacated in accordance with the Local Government Act (地方制度法), Kaohsiung City Council secretary Huang Chin-ping (黃錦平) said.
The illegal profit of about US$8.169 million that the couple gained from money laundering, which has been seized by prosecutors, would be forfeited and returned to the national treasury, the court said in a statement.
The case is one of several corruption scandals that Chen Shui-bian became embroiled in after his two terms as president from 2000 to 2008, including receiving bribes related to a land deal in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) and construction of the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
The Supreme Court’s ruling upheld part of the High Court’s decision on Chen Chih-chung and his wife announced in July last year.
However, the Supreme Court ordered a retrial of a High Court ruling that involved Chen Shui-bian’s wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍).
The High Court’s investigation indicated that there was intent to commit money laundering by Chen Chih-chung and Huang Jui-ching, the Supreme Court said.
The High Court’s ruling last year said that Wu instructed her son and daughter-in-law to deposit money that she received from bribes into overseas bank accounts and sentenced the 69-year-old to two years in prison.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court said that the High Court did not have sufficient evidence to prove Wu’s role, so the reasons for finding her guilty were inadequate.
Moreover, the ruling was made while Wu was absent and did not take into account her health problems, it said.
In 2010, Wu was found guilty of corruption in two earlier cases and sentenced to 11 years in jail in one of the cases.
However, Taichung Prison said at that time that it was unable to meet the medical needs of Wu, who uses a wheelchair.
She was instead confined to her son’s home.
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