Also convicted was her husband Chen Fu-hsing. He was given a six-year sentence. He will begin his prison term at the same time as his wife.

Lin was found guilty of letting her husband buy a piece of land and buying it at a much bloated price for the township of Talin, of which she was chief in 2007. The township planned to build an incineration plant on the land.

However, townspeople protested the Lin project, which had been contracted out. Contractors sued the township for failure to provide the land for construction. An arbitration commission awarded the contractors NT$200 million in damages.

The Chiayi district court convicted Lin and Chen on December 19, 2007. They were sentenced to nine and six years in prison, respectively.

Both appealed to the Taiwan high court, which upheld the verdict at the first trial. They filed another appeal to the Supreme Court, which turned it down, confirming the 2007 rulings.