The Taipei District Court on Friday sentenced Farglory Group founder Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄) to seven years in prison for bribery involving land development projects in New Taipei.
Chao, who controls Farglory Land Development Co. and its main affiliated companies, was found guilty of bribing New Taipei City Councilor Chou Sheng-kao (周勝考) and Hung Chia-hung (洪嘉宏), chief secretary of the Construction and Planning Agency (CPA) under the Interior Ministry.
The tycoon was also indicted in 2017 by prosecutors for falsifying financial reports in violation of the Securities and Exchange Act, but the court ruled him innocent due to a lack of evidence on those charges.
According to the court, both Chou and Hung accepted bribes from Chao in order to help Farglory with its land development projects around the country, which included facilitating the rezoning of a former coal mine in New Taipei’s Tucheng District and securing bids on public construction projects.
For their involvement, the court on Friday handed down a sentence of 10 years in jail to Chou and eight years and two months to Hung for violations of the Anti-Corruption Act.
Meanwhile, former head of Taipei’s Department of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) was sentenced to nine years in prison for violations in connection with the Taipei Dome project, which was contracted to Farglory Group.
Lee was found guilty of changing the parameters of the project in ways that unlawfully provided financial benefits to Farglory, the Taipei court said.
He was head of the city’s finance department from 1998 to 2006 when former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was Taipei mayor.
According to the court, the sentences handed down to Chao, Chou, Hung and Lee can be appealed.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel