Former Kaohsiung city councilor Chen Tsui-luan (陳粹鑾) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Monday had her corruption conviction upheld by the Supreme Court and must serve 10 years and five months in prison, while township mayors in Penghu and Miaoli counties were also accused of corruption.
The Supreme Court rejected Chen’s appeal by upholding a verdict that she was guilty of unlawfully pocketing NT$4.49 million (US$138,409) of government funds beginning in 2013.
Chen forged receipts to apply for and receive travel subsidies on false claims of conducting official work as a city councilor, but an investigation found that she took family members on vacation.
Photo: Taipei Times
She began serving the prison sentence in August 2018.
Her daughter, Cheng An-li (鄭安秝), won a councilor seat in the local elections that year.
Investigators found that while in prison Chen still could communicate with her family, as she conspired with her son, Cheng Chia-hong (鄭嘉宏), and councilor office director Wang Mei-chu (王美珠) to produce fake list of names as people hired as her daughter’s office assistants and for some years pocket their monthly wages.
Cheng Chia-hong in April was handed a 16-month prison term, which was later turned into a suspended sentence, while Wang received a prison sentence of two years and six months.
Separately in Penghu County on Monday, local officials swore in Penghu County Finance Department deputy head Cheng Chao-chung (鄭肇宗) as interim mayor at a ceremony after Wanan Township (望安) Mayor Hsu Te-hsien (許賢德) was detained and investigated for corruption.
Prosecutors last week searched Hsu’s office to gather evidence after allegations that he pocketed government subsidies for local residents, made fraudulent accounting reports and received bribes in exchange for “selling jobs” on the township’s sanitation team.
A judge approved a request to place Hsu in pretrial detention on Wednesday last week, citing the likelihood of him tampering with evidence and fleeing to avoid prosecution.
Meanwhile, Miaoli prosecutors on Monday indicted former Tongshiao Township (通霄) mayor Chen Han-chih (陳漢志) for bribery and corruption in relatiion to 13 local government projects.
Chen Han-chih, an independent, was indicted along with eight other people, including his office secretary, a business consultant, a contractor surnamed Lin (林) and five other contractors who allegedly had paid bribes and taken kickbacks.
The projects included stabilizing a slope to prevent landslides, construction work on roads, sewers and drainage channels, and flood-control engineering.
Chen Han-chih allegedly had demanded bribes of between 10 and 15 percent of the budget.
In an earlier case, Chen Han-chih was convicted of taking NT$1.07 million in bribes, relating to setting up a solar panel farm, and he received a five-year prison term.
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