Wu Chien-pao explained

Wu Chien-pao
Native Name Lang:zh-tw
Order:Member of the Tainan City Council
Term Start:25 December 2010
Term End:11 May 2011
Order1:Speaker of the Tainan County Council
Term Start1:20 December 2002
Term End1:25 December 2010
Successor1: as Speaker of the Tainan City Council
Order2:Deputy speaker of the Tainan County Council
Term Start2:20 December 1998
Term End2:20 December 2002
Order3:Member of the Tainan County Council
Term Start3:20 December 1998
Term End3:25 December 2010
Birth Date:1950 11, df=yes
Birth Place:Rende, Tainan County, Taiwan
Nationality:Taiwanese
Occupation:politician

Wu Chien-pao (; born 29 November 1950) is a Taiwanese politician. He was a member of the Tainan County Council from 1998 to 2010, and served as its speaker from 2002 to 2010. Wu served on the succeeding Tainan City Council from December 2010 to May 2011, when he was removed from office as part of a legal verdict against him.

Career

Early political career and support for environmentalism

Wu's 1998 campaign for the Tainan County Council was supported by the Kuomintang. Throughout his tenure on the council, Wu maintained an interest in environmental causes affecting Southern Taiwan. In 2001, he backed Tainan County magistrate Mark Chen's decision to support Kueijen Township residents' protest of an Environmental Protection Administration plan to construct an industrial waste complex there.[1] Wu was elected speaker of the county council in 2002. In 2003, Wu organized a demonstration at the Nanhua Reservoir, calling for the government to lift restrictions on development at the site while providing compensation for county residents.[2] Shortly after Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan in August 2009, Wu criticized the decision to build a water diversion tunnel through Mount Siandu. Completion of the tunnel was suspected to have contributed to a landslide that destroyed the village of Siaolin, Kaohsiung.[3] [4]

Alleged gang ties and gambling

Wu drew continuous attention for alleged ties to gangs.[5] [6] In March 2004, police alleged that Wu bet on the Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index, and won NT$50 million. He reportedly promised NT$18 million of the total to Chang Chao-lin of the Four Seas Gang if Chang helped Wu collect his winnings. Wu only received NT$6 million, and supposedly asked other gang members to pursue Chang.[6] In March 2005, the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office sought Wu and Lee Chuan-fu for questioning. The pair were suspected of earning NT$1 billion in profit via Wu's Fu-hsin Company, which had begun dredging sand from the Tsengwen River in 2004.[7] [8] In the midst of the Tsengwen River case, Wu ran for reelection as Tainan County Council speaker and won in March 2006.[9] The Tainan District Court heard charges against Wu, ruling in August 2008 that he was not guilty. Upon appeal, the Taiwan High Court ruled in May 2011 that Wu was guilty, extending his sentence to 42 months.[10] [11]

In 2007, the Tainan District Prosecutors' Office began investigating Wu for gambling on Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) games.[12] He contested the legislative elections held in January 2008, losing to Lee Chun-yee.[13] In April of that year, the prison sentence in another gambling case against Wu relating to gambling houses in operation between 2004 and 2005 was commuted to a fine.[14] Wu's CPBL gambling case continued with his indictment in August 2008 by prosecutors in Tainan.[15] Further questioning of Wu undertaken in 2010 by Banqiao-based prosecutors established a link to the CPBL's . Wu was indicted by the Banqiao District Prosecutor's Office in February 2010.[16] [17] The New York Times reported in October 2016 that Wu would order players to be beaten if they refused to participate in match fixing.[18] Following the Banqiao indictment, the Kuomintang expelled Wu.[19] The party ordered affiliated Tainan city councillors to vote for themselves during the 2010 speakership election to keep Wu out of the office.[20] He lost the office to Democratic Progressive Party candidate by nine votes, 30–21.[21] Ten Tainan City Council members were later expelled from the Kuomintang for not following the party's directive.[22]

Removal from office and subsequent legal actions

Wu was removed from office in May 2011 after the Taiwan High Court found him guilty in the Tsengwen River case.[23] In December 2011, Wu's appeal of the match fixing charges related to the 2007 probe led by the Tainan prosecutors was heard by the Taiwan High Court. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, which he began serving in January 2012.[24] [25] The same court ruled on the 2009 charges in August 2014, sentencing Wu to 38 months in prison.[26] Wu could not be located by law enforcement to serve this sentence,[27] [28] which was extended to 65 months on appeal due to Wu's attitude during the proceedings.[29] [30] In August 2017, Weng Ping-yao stated that Ma Ying-jeou offered payment for him to kill Alex Tsai in 2007. According to Weng, the deal fell through when Wu Chien-pao was named an additional target.[31] In 2018, Wu was tracked to the Philippines.[32] He was arrested by the Philippine Bureau of Immigration's Fugitive Search Unit on 16 January 2019.[33] On 6 February 2019, Criminal Investigation Bureau officers from Taiwan's National Police Agency flew to Manila to extradite Wu.[34] [35] In April 2020, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court decision to convict Wu on the 2009 game fixing-related charges.[36]

Personal life

Wu Chien-pao's son was a candidate for Tainan City Council in 2014.[27] The younger Wu won office in 2018, and again in 2022.

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: Chiu . Yu-Tzu . Tainan protests industrial waste . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 30 May 2001.
  2. News: Chiu . Yu-Tzu . Chen raises his glass to clean water . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 24 November 2003.
  3. News: MORAKOT: THE AFTERMATH: County council petitions to stop Zengwun project . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 22 August 2009.
  4. News: EDITORIAL : Disaster management comes first . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 19 April 2010.
  5. News: FEATURE : Gangsters have a big say in politics . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 29 May 2010.
  6. News: Chuang . Jimmy . Tainan county speaker denies ties to mafia ring . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 4 March 2004.
  7. News: Chang . Rich . Two involved in sand sales probe . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 19 March 2004.
  8. News: Chang . Rich . Scores of officials busted for corruption: MOJ . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 20 March 2005.
  9. News: Chang . Rich . The rotten prevail in council elections . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 2 March 2006.
  10. News: Chang . Rich . Tainan politicians indicted for graft . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 28 August 2005.
  11. News: Sand theft sentence upheld . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 11 May 2011.
  12. News: Chuang . Jimmy . Top suspect in baseball scam released . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 25 August 2007.
  13. News: Legislative elections and referendums . 11 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 13 January 2008.
  14. News: Fine, but no jail for Wu . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 25 April 2008.
  15. News: Tsai . Wen-Chu . Shao . Hsin-Chieh . Tainan council speaker indicted for game fixing . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 28 August 2008.
  16. News: Huang . Shelley . Prosecutors check on Wu's health . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 29 January 2010.
  17. News: Huang . Shelley . Prosecutors indict 24 for match-fixing . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 11 February 2010.
  18. News: Ken . Belson . Barred From Baseball (in Taiwan) . 7 February 2019 . The New York Times . 10 October 2016. Republished as News: Life after being barred from Taiwanese baseball . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 13 October 2016.
  19. News: KMT expels Tainan speaker . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 12 February 2010.
  20. News: Mo . Yan-chih . ANALYSIS: KMT displays its determination for party reform . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 4 January 2011.
  21. News: Loa . Iok-sin . Mo . Yan-chih . DPP surges in council elections . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 26 December 2010.
  22. News: Mo . Yan-chih . KMT expels 10 Tainan councilors . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 30 December 2010.
  23. News: Chang . Rich . Former Tainan County speaker barred for leaving country, monitored by police . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 16 May 2011.
  24. News: Chang . Rich . Tainan councilor to be jailed for fixing pro baseball games . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 14 December 2011.
  25. News: Chang . Rich . Former KMT Tainan county speaker Wu starts jail sentence . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 17 January 2012.
  26. News: Pan . Jason . Court finds star players guilty of fixing CPBL ties . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 14 August 2014.
  27. News: Pan . Jason . Ex-speaker arrest warrant issued . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 3 October 2014.
  28. News: Pan . Jaon . Ministry censured for KMT convicts' flight . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 16 October 2015.
  29. News: CPBL match fixer Wu Chien-pao arrested in Manila . 11 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 19 January 2019.
  30. News: Lin . Emerson . Wang . Flor . Former Tainan County council speaker nabbed in Philippines . 11 February 2019 . Central News Agency . 17 January 2019.
  31. News: Pan . Jason . Ma ordered Alex Tsai killed: shooter . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 11 August 2017.
  32. News: Strong . Matthew . Taiwan politician wanted for baseball scandal nabbed in the Philippines . 11 February 2019 . Taiwan News . 17 January 2019.
  33. News: Fugitive ex-Taiwanese official nabbed in Subic . 11 February 2019 . CNN Philippines . 20 January 2019 . 12 February 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190212014839/http://cnnphilippines.com/news/2019/01/20/former-taiwan-tainan-county-speaker-wu-chien-pao-arrest-subic-zambales.html . dead .
  34. News: Lim . Emerson . Wang . Flor . Ex-Tainan County Council speaker extradited from Manila . 7 February 2019 . Central News Agency . 6 February 2019. Republished as News: Ex-Tainan County Council speaker extradited from Manila back to Taiwan . 11 February 2019 . Taiwan News . Central News Agency . 6 February 2019.
  35. News: Hsu . Stacy . Yao . Tony . Philippines deports convicted former council speaker . 7 February 2019 . Taipei Times . 7 February 2019.
  36. News: Pan . Jason . Court denies appeal in baseball match-fixing case . 2 July 2020 . Taipei Times . 1 May 2020.