Kinmen: The Kinmen District Court on Tuesday sentenced Kinmen County Councilor Hsu Yu-chao of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) to four years in prison and five years’ deprivation of civil rights for fraudulently claiming assistant salaries. The ruling can be appealed.

According to Focus Taiwan, a court news release stated that Hsu reported employing three individuals, a man surnamed Hsu, a woman surnamed Yang, and a woman surnamed Chen, as her assistants from 2003-2021. This period overlapped with her tenure as a county councilor from 2002-2025. However, the councilor continued to claim the salaries of the assistants after they no longer worked for her, fraudulently making NT$2,329,845 (US$77,330) in total.

During the investigation and trial, Hsu confessed to the charges, returned her illegal gains, and expressed remorse for her actions, which allowed for a more lenient sentence, the court said. Despite this, Hsu expressed disappointment with the severity of the sentence, stating that it was harsh given her cooperation during the investigation.

Hsu emphasized that the punishment was “disproportionate” when compared to other cases in Taiwan. She was indicted by the Kinmen District Prosecutors Office on June 18.