Fraud Over NT$1 Million: New Penalties and Defense Strategies
商品圖像
-
商品資訊
目錄
The new three-tier enhanced penalty system under Article 43 of Taiwan’s Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act has significantly changed criminal defense practice and court proceedings in fraud cases.
Previously, aggravated fraud under Article 339-4 of Taiwan’s Criminal Code was punishable by imprisonment for one to seven years.
When the amount involved remained below the applicable statutory threshold, defendants could often seek a sentence of two years or less—and potentially a suspended sentence—through a combination of a guilty plea, full settlement with the victim, and a sentence reduction under Article 59 of the Criminal Code.
However, following the implementation of Taiwan’s strengthened anti-fraud legislation, obtaining such an outcome has become significantly more difficult.
The following are the major changes this legislation has brought to criminal proceedings and the corresponding adjustments in defense strategy:
1. Major Changes to Criminal Procedure and Defendants’ Rights
■ 1. Summary Judgment Procedures Are No Longer Available
Once the amount of financial loss exceeds NT$1 million, the statutory minimum sentence increases to three years’ imprisonment.
Under Taiwan’s Code of Criminal Procedure, offenses carrying a minimum statutory sentence of three years or more cannot be handled through summary proceedings. Instead, the case must proceed through the ordinary trial procedure and be heard by a collegiate panel of judges.
As a result, both the duration and complexity of criminal proceedings may increase substantially.
■ 2. Mandatory Legal Representation
At the first-instance trial, cases of this nature are subject to mandatory defense counsel requirements.
If the defendant does not retain a private attorney, the court must appoint a public defender or a legal aid attorney to provide representation.
This reflects the seriousness with which the law treats offenses carrying such substantial criminal penalties.
■ 3. Higher Thresholds for Parole
Article 49 of the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act also imposes stricter parole requirements.
For certain offenses under the Act, a first-time offender generally must serve at least two-thirds of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. For repeat offenders, the threshold may increase to more than three-quarters of the sentence.
These requirements can significantly affect the actual period of imprisonment.
2. Key Changes in Criminal Defense Strategy
With NT$1 million becoming a critical threshold for enhanced criminal penalties, defense strategy must move beyond the traditional approach of simply seeking settlement and a suspended sentence.
Greater attention must now be paid to the precise calculation of the amount involved, the defendant’s role, and the legal characterization of each alleged act.
■ 1. Challenging the Calculation of the Criminal Amount
In the past, whether the financial loss was NT$900,000 or NT$1.2 million generally affected sentencing within the framework of Article 339-4 of the Criminal Code. The difference might influence the length of the sentence, but defense counsel did not necessarily need to dispute every portion of the amount.
Under the new system, however, crossing the NT$1 million threshold can have much more significant consequences.
★ Defense Strategy: If prosecutors allege an amount close to NT$1 million—for example, NT$1.1 million or NT$1.2 million—defense counsel should carefully examine whether certain amounts can legally be excluded.
This may include amounts associated with preparatory conduct, attempted offenses, or private debt disputes in which fraudulent intent cannot be established.
If the legally attributable amount can be reduced to NT$999,999 or less, the case may fall outside the enhanced three-year minimum sentence and return to the original sentencing range of one to seven years, potentially reopening the possibility of a suspended sentence.
■ 2. Reconsidering Continuing Offenses and Separate Punishment for Separate Crimes
In practice, repeated withdrawals by money mules or repeated fraudulent acts against multiple victims within a short period may sometimes be treated as a single substantive offense under concepts such as continuing or collective criminal conduct. The losses may therefore be aggregated.
★ Defense Strategy: If aggregating the losses would push the total above NT$1 million or even NT$10 million, defense counsel may consider arguing that offenses involving different victims or conduct occurring at different times were based on separate criminal intent and should therefore be treated as separate offenses.
Although this approach may increase the number of offenses, it could keep the loss attributable to each individual offense below NT$1 million.
Individual sentences would then not necessarily be subject to the three-year statutory minimum, potentially allowing greater flexibility when the court subsequently determines the combined sentence to be served.
■ 3. Strategic Application of Article 59 of the Criminal Code
Once the financial loss exceeds NT$1 million, even if the defendant fully compensates the victim and obtains forgiveness, the statutory minimum may still be three years’ imprisonment.
Because a suspended sentence generally requires the pronounced term of imprisonment to be two years or less, settlement alone may no longer be sufficient to make a suspended sentence available.
★ Defense Strategy: Sentence reduction therefore becomes especially important.
In addition to sentence-reduction provisions under the Fraud Crime Hazard Prevention Act, such as those relating to voluntary surrender or providing information concerning higher-level participants, defense counsel may need to establish grounds for mitigation under Article 59 of the Criminal Code.
➡︎ For example, counsel may argue that the defendant was merely a low-level money mule, an account holder who followed instructions without playing a decision-making role, or a financially vulnerable participant whose culpability and circumstances are substantially less serious than those of the organizers.
If the circumstances are found to be clearly deserving of compassion or leniency, Article 59 may allow the court to reduce a three-year minimum sentence to one year and six months, potentially bringing the sentence within the range in which a suspended sentence may become legally possible.
3. Conclusion
Overall, Taiwan’s strengthened anti-fraud legislation has substantially changed the legal landscape for defendants in mid-level fraud cases involving approximately NT$1 million to NT$5 million.
The previous strategy of relying primarily on financial compensation, settlement, and victim forgiveness to obtain a suspended sentence has become considerably less effective in cases subject to enhanced statutory minimum sentences.
Future fraud defense strategies must therefore go beyond appeals for leniency.
Defense counsel must conduct a more detailed analysis of financial flows, the calculation of criminal proceeds or losses, the defendant’s role within the alleged fraud organization, the relationship between individual offenses, and the applicability of statutory sentence reductions.
Under the new legal framework, these technical legal and evidentiary issues may become decisive factors in determining the defendant’s ultimate criminal liability and sentence.
Chien Sheng International Law Firm
LINE Online Legal Consultation: @lawuicc001 (Click to consult)
Welcome to call to schedule a meeting: 03-3150-034
Multiple payment methods available: Cash, Credit Card, Bank Transfer
Facebook: Chien Sheng International Law Firm
Instagram: chien.sheng_
-
商品Q&A
