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Retrial is ordered
for Wu Nai-jen, Hong Chi-chang
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The High Court¡¦s Greater Taichung branch on Wednesday ordered a retrial in the
breach of trust case involving former Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar, ¥x¿}) chairman
Wu Nai-jen (§d¤D¤¯) and former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Hong
Chi-chang (¬x©_©÷), which was widely viewed as flawed.
Hong was sentenced on March 13 to two years and four months in prison, while Wu,
a former DPP secretary-general, received a term of three years and 10 months
after the Greater Taichung branch upheld their conviction in a case involving
the 2003 sale of property belonging to Taisugar in Greater Taichung in 2003.
Wu was accused of giving in, as Taisugar chairman, to Hong¡¦s lobbying for Chun
Lung Co (¬KÀs¶}µo¤½¥q), a property developer, to ensure that it won the right to
purchase a plot of land it was renting from Taisugar. The court ruled that Wu
had violated Taisugar¡¦s ¡§rent only¡¨ policy on its properties and the sale had
caused Taisugar losses.
The two men were to begin serving on May 6, but applied for temporary respite
and transfer of jurisdiction.
They said that they were ready to go through the entire legal process ¡§all over
again.¡¨
Hong had requested a retrial on April 8, citing new evidence, and asked for a
Control Yuan investigation into the case. He cited a list of Taisugar land
sales, compiled by the state-controlled company and submitted to the Legislative
Yuan on March 15, as new evidence that proved the company no longer had a ¡§rent
only¡¨ policy on its properties.
A Control Yuan reply on April 17 demanded the Ministry of Justice investigate.
The DPP¡¦s Central Standing Committee on April 24 called for a retrial or
extraordinary appeal.
Wednesday¡¦s order for a retrial of Hong and Wu also impacted codefendants Pan
Chung-hao (¼ï©¾»¨), Chun Long Co general manager, and Lu Yu-mei (§f౪´), a Taisugar
official. Pan, who was sentenced to three years, seven months ¡X a sentence that
could be commuted to a fine and five months¡¦ imprisonment ¡X had reported to
prison on May 6. He was released immediately, while Lu was not required to begin
serving his term.
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