Ex-New Taipei councilor gets 10 years, 8 months for bribery

Taipei, Dec. 29 (CNA) Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) New Taipei City Councilor Chen Ko-ming (陳科名) has been sentenced to 10 years and eight months in prison after the Supreme Court rejected his appeal in a bribery case, finalizing the ruling.

Chen was found to have accepted kickbacks and bribes from property developers in exchange for pressuring New Taipei city officials to speed up building permit approvals.

The courts determined that Chen illegally obtained NT$13.07 million (US$416,260) through the scheme, in violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.

Prosecutors said Chen began serving as a Taipei County councilor in 2006, before the county was upgraded to a special municipality, and later won three consecutive terms as a New Taipei city councilor.

In 2012, Chen secretly invested, using his wife's name and undisclosed arrangements, in two companies affiliated with an earthwork and debris removal operator.

According to prosecutors, Chen accepted requests from seven developers and exerted pressure on the city's Public Works Department and Urban and Rural Development Department to accelerate permit approvals.

He then required the developers to award earthwork and debris removal contracts to designated companies, profiting from the scheme.

Prosecutors concluded that Chen received more than NT$17.17 million in bribes and other improper benefits.

However, the New Taipei District Court found him guilty of accepting NT$13.07 million in bribes and sentenced him to a combined prison term of 10 years and eight months, along with five years' deprivation of civil rights. He was acquitted of charges related to an additional NT$4.1 million.

Both Chen and prosecutors appealed.

The Taiwan High Court upheld the original verdict, and the Supreme Court on Dec. 23 dismissed further appeals, making the judgment final.

Separately, Chen is already serving a seven-year-and-six-month prison sentence finalized last year for accepting NT$200,000 in bribes from a businessman in exchange for pressuring a demolition unit to delay the removal of an illegal factory building. He began serving that sentence in April last year.