Taiwan News has the story on President Chen's son-in-law going down for insider trading.

President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘) was sentenced to six years in prison and fined NT$30 million after being found guilty of insider trading charges.

After a five-month investigation into the Chao and his father's alleged insider trading of Taiwan Development Corporation shares, the Taipei District Court announced its verdict at 3 p.m. yesterday in the high-profile case.

According to the verdict, the judges ruled that the TDC case was a typical crime committed by influential people and because neither the father nor the son showed remorse for their actions, they deserved to be given stiff penalties.

"Chao Chien-ming, a doctor as well as one of the first family members, and his father Chao Yu-chu, a retired principal, even made use of their influence to obtain confidential information that had a positive effect on the prices of TDC shares. They obtained huge profits through the buying and selling of TDC shares," the verdict read, which put the total profits earned by the two at over NT$58 million.

"A panel of three judges convicted Chao Chien-ming and his father of making illegal gains through insider trading and decided not only to send them to prison but also to fine them NT$30 million respectively," court spokesman Liu Sau-song said at a press conference.

Liu further noted that Chao Yu-chu was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for not only insider trading of TDC shares but also for embezzling NT$4.5 million from a total of NT$11 million in donations made by Eslite Chairman Robert Wu and other people to the table tennis association he headed.

It's not over yet, as there will no doubt be appeals....

[Taiwan] [Chen Shui-bian] [DPP] [KMT