Ex-Keelung councilor gets 7 years, 4 months in final corruption verdict

Taipei, Nov. 13 (CNA) Former Keelung City Councilor Han Liang-chi (韓良圻) has been sentenced to seven years and four months in prison and stripped of civil rights for three years for corruption.

The verdict is final after the Supreme Court rejected Han's appeal on Wednesday.

Han was found guilty of fraudulently obtaining property under cover of legal authority between 2009 and 2018 by the Taiwan High Court in December 2024.

He misappropriated public funds of over NT$6.58 million (US$211,590) by fraudulently claiming assistant fees, the verdict said.

During the trial, Han claimed he had no illegal intent, saying he used the funds for recurring expenses at his service office, such as hiring assistants, as well as nonrecurring costs related to his role as a city councilor, and denied all wrongdoing, according to the verdict.

In response, the court noted that Han claimed assistant fees in the names of his friends without actually hiring them, demonstrating illegal intent from the outset.

The purpose for which he used the funds, even if to employ assistants, is irrelevant to the conviction, the verdict said.

Han, who served five terms as a Keelung City Councilor from 1998 to 2018, ran as a candidate for the main opposition Kuomintang, the People First Party, and also as an independent.