The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Hao Jyh-hwa (郝治華), who is the husband of Representative to Brunei Vanessa Shih (史亞平), and sentenced him to 10 years and 11 months for importing and selling unapproved cosmetic injectables, the court said on Tuesday.
The verdict is final, but the execution of the sentence is to be determined by prosecutors’ request to the court, it said in a statement.
Hao was convicted on 28 criminal counts, including importing and selling banned cosmetic injectables, and sentenced to 13 years and 11 months by the Taichung District Court.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
The district court said in its ruling that Hao, then-director of a cosmetic clinic in Taichung, instructed his employees from 2009 to 2012 to purchase injectable drugs from a German company that were not approved by Taiwan’s health authorities and offered anti-aging treatment plans to promote the injectables.
After an appeal by Hao, the second instance was heard by the Taiwan High Court’s Taichung branch.
However, the High Court quashed the district court ruling based on the Food and Drug Administration’s opinion that there was insufficient evidence to determine that the liquid ingredients sold by the German company were “drugs” that could affect the structure and physiological functions of human body as stipulated in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法), and acquitted Hao of all charges.
The prosecutors appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which revoked the second ruling and ordered a new trial.
The High Court’s Taichung branch found in the new trial that Hao claimed the German Vitorgan ingredient had anti-aging effects and planned a course of treatment covering invasive procedures, proving the product was medication used to diagnose, treat, alleviate or prevent human diseases, as defined in the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.
The court handed down a sentence of 10 years and 11 months in prison.
Hao filed an appeal against the decision, which was rejected by the Supreme Court.
The verdict is final.
Three years ago, Hao was sentenced to two years and eight months for contravening the Criminal Code — by injecting a hydrogel substance containing polyacrylamide, a suspected carcinogen, into the breasts of multiple women for breast enhancement — for fraud and the offense of importing drugs and medical devices without approval under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its