The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an appeal brought by a married couple convicted of corruption for their failed attempt to extort fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s in 2017.
The couple, a man surnamed Tsai (蔡), and his wife, surnamed Huang (黃), was found guilty of attempted extortion under the Criminal Code for seeking NT$70.6 million (US$2.14 million) in compensation after their son broke his arm at a McDonald’s restaurant in New Taipei City’s Tucheng District (土城), in a ruling by the Taoyuan District Court in February 2021.
After they were both sentenced to one year and two months in prison, the Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office, which had indicted the couple on corruption charges, appealed the district court’s ruling.
Photo: Chang Wen-chuan, Taipei Times
The High Court convicted them in July 2023 of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), because the couple was found to have abused their positions when working at the New Taipei City Fire Department in their extortion attempt.
Tsai and Huang were sentenced to six years and six months, and five years and two months in prison respectively.
The Supreme Court ruling was final.
According to court documents, the couple tried to extort the money to cover investment losses they had incurred, despite the medical bills for their son only totaling NT$6,703.
The couple’s attempt to extort McDonald’s came to light in the summer of 2017 after the chain reported to the Criminal Investigation Bureau the threats the couple made in their discussions about compensation.
The couple compiled information about McDonald’s restaurants in Taiwan from a government database and threatened the chain that they would make the information public, court documents showed.
Several McDonald’s restaurants were then notified by local governments about upcoming inspections, leading to the chain’s decision to contact the authorities.
The couple was questioned by prosecutors in July 2017 and indicted in September of that year.
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