The Fu Couple Sentenced for Fake Divorce

The Fu Couple Sentenced for Fake Divorce

Sources: All Taipei newspapers

May 3, 2011

Fu Kun-chi was elected Hualien County Executive in the end of 2009. After divorcing his wife, Hsu Chen-wei, he appointed her as Deputy County Executive. However, the Interior Ministry, in a determination, nullified their divorce because Fu and his wife “had conspired to forge their divorce,” so her appointment automatically became invalid. The couple had been indicted by the Hualien District Prosecutors Office for forgery. Yesterday, the Hualien District Court handed down its ruling, and Fu and his wife were given a six-month and a four-month sentence, respectively. They may pay fines in lieu of jail terms.

It is generally believed that Fu appointed his “ex-wife” as deputy because he would have to leave office if he is convicted on final appeal in his insider trading case. [Editor’s note: Fu was found guilty in the courts of first instance and second instance, and his case is pending final appeal.]

Although Fu had rescinded the appointment after causing a public stir, he was still fined NT$ 1 million by the Control Yuan, the nation’s top watchdog body, in a separate case, for violating the Act on Recusal of Public Officials Due to Conflicts of Interest.

When conducting the investigation into the divorce case, Hualien prosecutors concluded that Fu and Hsu had had no genuine reasons to divorce, but they went to the household registration office to register their no-fault divorce. Therefore, prosecutors indicted them for forgery.

Chen Shih-pao, Presiding Judge of the Hualien District Court, trying the Fu case, stated that although Fu and Hsu had registered their divorce, Hsu had only transferred her household registration to the house of her parents-in-law, which was next to their former residence. Furthermore, Hsu had no job or assets, and Fu and Hsu had not even applied for a division of their conjugal assets. Chen said that Fu and Hsu had often accompanied each other in the public and she was even called “Madame Fu” in public functions held by the Hualien County government.

Chen Shih-pao pointed out that the purpose of the Fu couple’s divorce was merely to circumvent the regulations of the Act on Recusal of Public Officials Due to Conflicts of Interest.

Fu angrily responded that he would not be defeated by political persecution.

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