The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by former Nantou County councilor Tseng Chen-yen (曾振炎) and upheld a lower court’s seven-and-a-half-year sentence for his fraudulent expense claims.
The sentence determined by the High Court’s Taichung branch in Tseng’s second trial was justified, based on solid evidence, the Supreme Court said in the ruling it handed down on Thursday last week, which is final.
Tseng was originally found guilty of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) by the Nantou District Court in 2019 for falsely claiming NT$1.99 million (US$62,207) in public funding from 2014 to 2017 during his time as county councilor.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
He acquired the money to pay the salaries of three aides, but had colluded with his wife, surnamed Hou (侯), to hire their relatives as aides and pocket the money, the district court said. It was found that one aide continued to receive a salary from April to July 2017 after quitting, and remitted the money to Hou.
Tseng received a lighter-than-normal sentence of three-and-a-half years, because he admitted to the crime and used most of the money to support his activities as councilor and pay the expenses of his offices.
The High Court upheld that ruling on appeal, but Tseng and his wife appealed the case again to the Supreme Court. It found gaps in the investigation and inconsistencies in the ruling’s reasoning, and remanded the case to the High Court to be tried again.
In the retrial in May last year, the High Court determined that Tseng’s case did not warrant leniency, because of the long period over which they embezzled money, the large sum involved and the fact that his job was to serve constituents, which could not be used as an excuse to commit fraud.
The High Court increased Tseng’s sentence to seven-and-a-half years and his wife’s from 21 months to 30 months, which were upheld by the Supreme Court.
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