Relevant Legal Provision

Article 215 of the Criminal Code：A person engaged in business who knowingly records false matters in documents prepared in the course of business, thereby causing damage to the public or others, shall be punished with imprisonment for not more than three years, short-term imprisonment, or a fine of not more than NT$15,000.

Article 216 of the Criminal Code：A person who uses documents specified in Articles 210 to 215 shall be punished in accordance with the provisions governing the forgery or alteration of documents, the recording of false matters, or causing false matters to be recorded.

Article 339-4, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Criminal Code：A person who commits the crime of fraud under Article 339 under any of the following circumstances shall be punished with imprisonment for not less than one year but not more than seven years, and may be subject to a fine of not more than NT$1,000,000: where three or more persons jointly commit the offense.

Facts and Reasons

While assisting an enterprise in handling employee training programs, the defendant, in order to obtain subsidies, acted under the instructions of a supervisor and, together with other defendants, provided false documents such as blank attendance sheets and lecturer hourly fee receipts. After these documents were signed by uninformed individuals, they were approved and submitted for higher-level review, and the company then applied for subsidy funds from the Northern Keelung Branch of the Workforce Development Agency.

Judgment

The above defendants were convicted of jointly committing fraud to obtain property by three or more persons and other offenses, and were sentenced to a suspension of sentence for two years.

The foregoing facts were fully admitted by the defendants during the investigation and trial proceedings before this Court, and are consistent with witness testimony, communication records, and relevant application documents. Accordingly, the defendants' voluntary confessions are deemed credible, and the facts of this case are clear and sufficient to impose punishment in accordance with the law.

However, considering that the defendants consistently admitted their offenses after the fact, that none of them actually obtained any criminal proceeds, and taking into account their prior conduct, the criminal motive arising from following superior instructions, and the fact that the company has already repaid the fraudulently obtained subsidy funds for that year, the damage caused by this case can be deemed to have been substantially remedied.

After careful consideration, this Court finds that the defendants committed the offenses due to a momentary lapse in judgment and have since become aware of the seriousness of their actions, demonstrating genuine remorse, with no risk of reoffending. Therefore, it is appropriate to suspend the execution of the declared sentences, and the defendants are hereby granted a suspended sentence of two years.

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