8 lawmakers sentenced in bribery case

Liao, 72, is currently serving time in jail after being convicted of forgery in a separate criminal case.

The judges reversed the verdicts of innocence for the other six lawmakers in the earlier trial.

In its ruling yesterday, the High Court changed the not-guilty verdicts at the Taipei District Court for two incumbent lawmakers — Hsu Shu-po of the ruling KMT and Lee Chun-yee of the DPP — to slap both of them with sentences of seven years and six months in prison.

Former DPP lawmaker Lin Kwang-hua and Jao Yung-ching, who left the KMT to join the DPP were sentenced to eight years in jail each.

Ex-legislator Feng Ting-kuo, who switched to the People First Party from the KMT and then the New Party, was sentenced to seven years and two months.

Chen Horng-chi, a former legislator who left the KMT to join the Taiwan Solidarity Union, received a seven-year jail term.

All of the convicted politicians said they plan to file appeals with the Supreme Court for a new trial.

Chiu said that judges “must have gone crazy” as he still insisted that the payments he got were political contributions to his election campaign fund.

He said that he was even more shocked when the High Court even extended the jail term for him.

There is currently only a small number of just and decent judges in Taiwan, which is now full of “corrupt and cruel officials,” he said.

Lin, who insisted he was innocent, also said he was shocked with the heavy sentence of eight years. He said he was not in a position to deal with the medicine suppliers or to be bought by any groups since he had already left the Legislative Yuan to run for the post of Hsinchu County magistrate in 2007.

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