Tainan: The Taiwan High Court Tainan Branch Court has overturned the corruption conviction of Kuo Hsin-liang, an independent former Tainan City Council speaker. The decision reverses the earlier verdict by the Tainan District Court.
According to Focus Taiwan, the court also overturned the guilty charges of corruption against co-defendants Kao Chin-chien, a local ward chief, and the head of an engineering firm surnamed Liao. However, Kao’s six-month prison sentence for incitement to commit perjury remains upheld. The High Court cited insufficient evidence for the original ruling, highlighting the nine contradictory statements made by Liao during the investigation and trial and the absence of cash flow data to support the bribery allegation against Kuo.
Kuo, who consistently maintained his innocence, expressed gratitude to the judicial system for clearing his name. Meanwhile, the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office Tainan Branch stated it will consider appealing the case after a thorough review of the verdict.
Kuo’s indictment by Tainan prosecutors in July 2023 alleged that he extorted and received NT$13 million (US$422,997) in bribes from the engineering consultancy led by Liao, related to a land zoning project. In November 2024, the district court found Kuo guilty, sentencing him to 13 years in prison and stripping him of civil rights for eight years. Kao was alleged to have shared the bribe, receiving a nine-year sentence and a four-year deprivation of civil rights. He was also sentenced to six months for incitement to commit perjury. Liao, although found guilty, was exempt from punishment, apart from having his mobile phone confiscated.
In a separate legal matter, the Ciaotou District Prosecutors Office indicted Kuo on September 26, 2025, for corruption in an ongoing solar power development case. Kuo previously served as a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and was deputy speaker in the Tainan Council from 2010 to 2018. He left the party in 2018 and was elected speaker as an independent, serving until 2022.
