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陳水扁、吳淑珍涉及龍潭購地案、陳敏薰買官案，最高法院昨天依「職務上收賄罪」判刑確定，扁珍成為中華民國史上第一對因貪汙被定罪的前總統夫婦。扁將發監執行，吳淑珍由檢察官認定能否入監。

卸任兩年多的陳水扁，原本往後五年多、約有四千多萬元的相關禮遇費用，在一審判決有罪時被停止，如今因龍潭案、買官案判決定讞，確定全數取消。

扁珍因龍潭案各判刑十一年、併科罰金一億五千萬元；因買官案各判刑八年、併科罰金五百萬元。吳淑珍在買官案另涉洗錢，判刑一年二月、減刑為七月。扁珍被判刑確定的部分，將由檢察官向法院聲請定執行刑。

辜仲諒捐給扁家三億元，扁珍被訴圖利和違反政治獻金法，則無罪定讞。

高檢署前查黑中心二○○六年起訴吳淑珍貪汙國務費案，認定扁是「潛在被告」。二○○八年特偵組聲准羈押阿扁，偵結國務費案、龍潭案、南港展覽館案、洗錢案、買官案、偽證案，起訴扁珍等十四人，建請對扁處以「最嚴厲之制裁」。

扁珍一審被判處無期徒刑，合議庭痛斥扁「一人貪戾、一國作亂」。今年六月十一日高院仍判扁珍有罪，最高法院昨天判決龍潭案及買官案定讞；而扁珍被控的國務費案、南港展覽館案均發回高院更審，陳致中、黃睿靚被訴國外洗錢案也發回更審。

在龍潭案部分，最高法院認為貪汙和洗錢是兩個罪，將國外洗錢部分發回更審，對龍潭案則在二審認定的事實基礎上，罕見地「自為判決」。

除了扁珍判刑確定，最高法院認為，科管局前局長李界木不符緩刑規定，加重判刑三年六月，緩刑撤銷。扁家「白手套」蔡銘哲刑期減為八月，仍緩刑三年。總統府前辦公室主任林德訓作偽證，判刑四月，減為二月確定。

最高法院刑事庭發言人張淳淙表示，合議庭認為公務員就職務上行為收賄，只要他的行為與職務有關聯，「實質上為該職務影響力所及」就構成。

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) is set to stay in prison for at least 11 years after the Supreme Court yesterday upheld a bribery conviction in a land purchase scandal.

Supporters of the former president said they were devastated by the ruling, which can no longer be appealed. Chen’s office called the verdict — which came just days after a local court cleared him in another bribery case — politically motivated.

In the verdict, the Supreme Court agreed with the lower court’s ruling that the former president and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), accepted bribes of up to NT$300 million (US$10 million) in return for helping facilitate a land deal between the government and a property development company.

The deal saw Taiwan Cement Corp (台泥) chairman Leslie Koo (辜成允), whose company was in financial difficulties at the time, pay the money to a close friend of the former first lady. In return, the former president pressured a government-run science park to rent and then purchase a plot of land in Taoyuan County that Koo managed, the ruling by the lower court said.

Koo had testified that the amount was originally given as commission, rather than a bribe.

In the unexpected decision made yesterday afternoon, the Supreme Court ruled that both Chen and his wife should serve 11 years in prison, a reduction of a year from the sentence handed down by the lower court, over their roles in the scandal and that they should each pay NT$150 million.

Tsai Ming-che (蔡銘哲), Wu’s friend who acted as the middleman in the case, was given an eight-month prison sentence, while former Hsinchu Science Park head James Lee (李界木) was handed a 42-month sentence.

In the same ruling, the court also sentenced Chen and his wife to eight years in prison for accepting a bribe of NT$10 million from former Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司) chairwoman Diana Chen (陳敏薰) in exchange for helping her secure an appointment at a securities firm.

In that case, Wu was also handed a seven-month sentence for money laundering.

Diana Chen had insisted during the trial that the amount was given to the former first lady as a political donation for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) during Chen Shui-bian’s tenure as party chairman. Prosecutors said the NT$10 million was instead promptly wired overseas.

As of press time, it was still unclear whether the sentences would be served consecutively or concurrently.

Speaking to the press immediately following the ruling, in one of several suits the former president is fighting, Chen Shui-bian’s office secretary, Chiang Chih-ming (江志銘), said the ruling was politically motivated.

“Many of his [Chen Shui-bian’s] supporters have told me that they will not accept this verdict,” Chiang said.

Chen Sung-shan (陳淞山), Chen Shui-bian’s former office manager who last week visited the former president at the Taipei Detention Center, where the former president has been held since December 2008, said Chen Shui-bian had not expected the ruling to come so soon.

Just hours before the ruling was announced, Chen Shui-bian’s office had issued the latest version of the former president’s bi-monthly diary, in which he claimed he should be found innocent because both cases were unrelated to his presidential powers.

He wrote that the courts should not confuse his “moral responsibilities with his legal responsibilities,” adding that the ruling should be based on a strict definition of the law “and not according to what society wants.”

Commenting on the verdict, the former president’s son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), currently running for election to the Greater Kaohsiung council as an independent, called on the public to “show their anger” by voting against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration in the upcoming special municipality elections.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Office, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) all said that they respected the court’s decision.

Declining to comment on whether the ruling would impact the upcoming elections, DPP spokesman Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said that “both parties, regardless of color, have already learned to calmly and reasonably deal with Chen Shui-bian’s legal troubles.”

Yesterday’s ruling came a week after the Taipei District Court acquitted Chen Shui-bian on a separate case of taking NT$600 million for helping facilitate bank mergers. The Taipei District Court also cleared him of embezzling diplomatic funds in June. Prosecutors have said they will appeal both rulings.

Three other cases, including charges related to another land deal, money laundering and embezzling secret diplomatic funds, for which the Taiwan High Court originally ruled the former president should serve a 20-year sentence, were returned to the lower court by the Supreme Court for another ruling yesterday.