《TAIPEI TIMES》 Huang Shih-ming guilty verdict upheld by court

By Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld the guilty verdict in an appeal of the case against former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming （黃世銘）, who was convicted of illegally wiretapping a female prosecutor in 2013.

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Huang was found to have violated Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office prosecutor Lin Hsiu-tao’s （林秀濤） “right to privacy,” with the court ordering Huang to pay compensation of NT$100,000 （US$3,278） to Lin.

Huang was originally ordered to pay Lin NT$300,000 in the first ruling. The court yesterday lowered the fine and ruled that Huang does not need to issue a public apology, as requested by Lin in her lawsuit.

Yesterday’s decision was the second and final ruling in the case, which cannot be appealed under normal judicial procedures, but Huang’s lawyer, Lo Ming-tong （羅明通）, said he would consider filing an extraordinary appeal or applying for a retrial.

The case came about after then-president Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） ordered then-prosecutor-general Huang to investigate allegations of influence peddling involving then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng （王金平） and Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming （柯建銘）.

Huang instructed Special Investigation Division agents to wiretap telephone conversations between Wang, Ker and other officials, then reported the content of the conversations to Ma.

Huang was convicted in 2015 for illegally disclosing information about a case under judicial investigation to Ma and then-premier Jiang Yi-huah （江宜樺）, violating the Communication Security and Surveillance Act （通訊保障及監察法）.

It was found during the investigation of that case that Huang had improperly wiretapped telephone conversations between Lin and her daughter in 2013. At that time, Lin was the prosecutor in charge of a probe into alleged influence peddling by Wang and Ker.

In the first ruling on the case in October last year, the Taipei District Court convicted Huang of violating Lin’s “right to privacy” by disclosing Lin’s conversations with her daughter to Ma in a report, which had resulted in damage to Lin’s reputation.

However, the court denied Lin’s request for NT$1.415 million compensation, with the judges ordering Huang to pay NT$300,000.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES