Ex-KMT lawmaker gets 7.5 years in prison over 2020 corruption case

Taipei, Nov. 27 (CNA) Taipei District Court on Thursday sentenced former Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) to seven years and six months in prison for his role in a 2020 corruption case.

According to the court ruling, Liao was found guilty of soliciting NT$700,000 (US$22,323) in bribes from Kung Hsiang-ke (孔祥科), who worked for New Taipei-based Number Media Ltd., a provider of cloud computing and big data services.

The company is affiliated with Huizhong IOT Hong Kong Technology Limited, which is itself owned by Chinese IT firm Inspur Co.

In 2018, Number Media sought approval from Taiwan's Investment Commission to raise its capital. However, the request was suspended after the commission found it was engaging in business activities beyond its permitted scope, Taipei prosecutors said.

In March 2020, Number Media hired Kung as a consultant on a contract basis to lobby lawmakers for the capital increase. A month later, he approached Liao, who directed his office chief, Ting Fu-hua (丁復華), to handle the matter.

At the time, prosecutors alleged that to secure approval for the request, Kung had paid NT$700,000 to Liao through Ting, who kept NT$200,000 as his commission.

In August 2024, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted Liao, Ting and Kung on charges of corruption.

During the trial, Liao denied any wrongdoing, while Ting and Kung admitted to the offenses during questioning by prosecutors, the court said.

The former lawmaker was found to have convened coordination meetings with the commission and the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Industrial Development Administration (then the Industrial Development Bureau) regarding the capital increase request, and that he and Ting took the money from Kung in return.

On Thursday, the Taipei court sentenced Liao to seven years and six months in prison and stripped him of his civil rights for three years, while Ting received a sentence of one year and four months and was deprived of his civil rights for two years.

Kung received a four-month sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to pay NT$100,000 to the national treasury. He is also being deprived of his civil rights for one year.

Their rulings can still be appealed.