Ex-KMT lawmaker begins prison sentence in embezzlement case

Taipei, March 27 (CNA) Former Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan (蔡正元) began serving a three-year, six-month prison sentence Friday after being convicted of embezzlement.

Tsai was found guilty of embezzling NT$280 million (US$8.76 million) through a capital reduction at Taipei-based Central Motion Pictures Corp. (CMPC) in the late 2000s.

The sentence became final after the Taiwan High Court rejected his appeal in December.

According to court findings, Tsai, who was also CMPC chairman in 2006, convened a provisional shareholders' meeting that approved a capital reduction, with NT$430 million in proceeds entrusted to Apollo Investment Co., a firm he founded.

Prosecutors said he later diverted NT$280 million of those funds to his personal account.

He was indicted in 2018 on charges of embezzlement and violating the Business Entity Accounting Act.

In October 2021, the Taipei District Court sentenced him to three years and six months in prison for embezzlement, and an additional six months for the accounting violation, commutable to a fine. The rulings were later upheld on appeal.

Tsai served as a KMT legislator from 2002 to 2016.