Sentences of presidential cigarette smugglers reduced on appeal

Taipei, Aug. 27 (CNA) The Taiwan High Court reduced the sentences given to former National Security Bureau (NSB), Presidential Office and China Airlines (CAL) personnel involved in a cigarette smuggling scandal in 2019 on Wednesday.

The suspects, headed by then NSB security agent Wu Tsung-hsien (吳宗憲), were found guilty on lesser charges of misusing public power for personal gain, rather than corruption, as the Taipei District Court had ruled in the first trial in June 2021, according to the court ruling.

Wu received the harshest sentence of the 12 defendants, reduced to six years from the original 10 years and four months in prison, followed by two years and four months for former NSB agent Chang Heng-chia (張恒嘉).

The court also found three of the four CAL employees indicted, including former CAL vice president Chiu Chang-hsin (邱彰信), to have aided in the crime, and handed down lighter sentences and conditional probation, citing Article 30 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China.

The case can still be appealed.

The incident dates back to July 2019, when then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was visiting the United States and the Caribbean.

Wu, who traveled with Tsai aboard a CAL plane as part of her security detail, had pre-ordered 9,200 cartons of cigarettes from the airline's online duty-free store on July 8, three days before Tsai's trip.

Taiwanese law stipulates that travelers can only bring one carton of duty-free cigarettes into the country.

Knowing the amount was beyond legal limits, Chiu and two other CAL personnel still arranged the cigarettes to be loaded onto baggage containers and be stored for later delivery at an airport warehouse owned by China Pacific Catering Services Ltd., an affiliate of CAL, prosecutors said.

Shortly after Tsai's return flight landed at Taoyuan International Airport on July 22, the cigarettes were delivered to Wu on the airport's apron, and several national security officials removed and loaded the cigarettes into five government vehicles under Chang and Wu's instruction.

Acting on a tip-off, however, customs officers intercepted the vehicles as they attempted to leave the airport as part of Tsai's motorcade to avoid scrutiny, busting the near NT$8.19 million (US$265,552) tax evasion scheme.

Following an investigation, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted 13 people, including nine NSB and Presidential Office officials and four CAL employees, on Aug 23, 2019, on charges of corruption and tax evasion.