Ex-oil executive receives 32 months for destroying ankle monitor

Kaohsiung, Oct. 15 (CNA) A former oil executive who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in a corruption case in March has received a separate 32-month prison term for breaking his electronic ankle monitor while in hiding, according to the Ciaotou District Court.

The ruling was handed down Oct. 7 against Hsu Han (徐漢), a former chief of CPC Corp., Taiwan's refinery division in Kaohsiung's Nanzih District.

The court said Hsu left his home in Kaohsiung on March 19, with more than NT$200,000 (US$6,168) in cash, clothes and an angle grinder. He traveled to an area under a bridge near Wanluan Township in Pingtung County, where he used the tool to cut off his electronic ankle monitor.

A male friend surnamed Lin (林) later arrived by car to pick Hsu up. The ankle monitor and a mobile phone issued to Hsu by the Ciaotou court were then thrown into a river before the two men headed to a rural bed-and-breakfast in Taitung County that Lin had arranged in advance. The two remained there until police and prosecutors tracked them down on March 24.

According to the court, Hsu planned his escape with the help of a female friend, also surnamed Lin, who had previously driven the two men to a temple in Pingtung County to survey the area and identify escape routes.

Although Hsu later admitted to breaking the ankle monitor, the court sentenced him to two years and eight months in prison under the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code.

Before the latest ruling, Hsu was sentenced to 25 years in prison on March 23 for 11 corruption-related offenses. He failed to appear in court that day after being placed on a wanted list on March 20, with prosecutors and police unable to locate him.

The Ciaotou court said Hsu, now in his mid-60s, had worked at CPC for more than 40 years, rising from an entry-level employee to an executive, but accepted bribes from contractors.

It found that Hsu had received NT$16.86 million in bribes and held an additional NT$4.73 million in assets the source of which he could not explain.

Regarding the involvement of his two friends, the female Lin was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, for her involvement in the case, the court said, adding that the male Lin, who helped execute the escape and arrange the hideout, was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Both sentences can be appealed.