21 questioned for vote-buying in Kaohsiung

Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday summoned the wife of Kaohsiung City Councilor-elect Tsao Ming-hui (曹明輝) of the KMT and 20 others for questioning over alleged vote-buying during the election campaign.

Meanwhile another group of investigators discovered a list of voter names and NT$37,000 they suspect was intended for bribes at Tsao's campaign headquarters, yesterday.

According to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office, Tsao's wife, Chung Su-mei (鐘素梅), allegedly bought votes for her husband by paying NT$1,000 to each voter. The case has been under investigation for weeks.

While prosecutors summoned Chung on Saturday night, agents from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and local police officers raided Tsao's campaign headquarters where they discovered the alleged bribe money and the name list.

In the meantime, prosecutors also summoned 20 voters who allegedly accepted the bribes and voted for Tsao. The prosecutors' office said that all of the 20 had admitted to the bribery.

As of press time yesterday, Chung and the voters were still being interviewed and prosecutors had not decided whether to detain them or charge them with bribery.

Tsao won the single city council seat representing the Aboriginal community by 739 votes.

The Public Officials Election and Recall Law regulates that if a candidate is convicted after winning an election, his status as a public official will be automatically voided.

But for Tsao to even be indicted, let alone convicted, prosecutors have to find more evidence showing his personal involvement in the bribery.

In Taipei City, both the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office said that prosecutors were all geared up for their anti-vote-buying crackdown for the election for city council speaker at the end of this month and local warden elections in January.

"Both the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Shihlin District Prosecutors' Office have investigated 170 alleged bribery cases regarding Saturday's elections, but we did not arrest or charge any candidates or vote captains for bribery," said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), the spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office.

"That does not mean, however, that we are not working. In fact, prosecutors are ready for potential bribery cases during the council speaker's and wardens' elections. There is no holiday for those who try to buy votes."