The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday granted a prosecutors' application to detain newly-elected Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) and his wife, Wu Te-mei (吳德美), on charges of bribery.
According to Judge Lin Shui-cheng (林水城), who is also the spokesman of the Kaohsiung District Court, the application was approved at 12:50pm yesterday.
During a raid to search at Chu's Kaohsiung residence on Friday night for evidence of vote-buying in the Kaohsiung City Council speakership election, a team of investigators, including prosecutors and special agents from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB), discovered NT$3.5 million in cash, which prosecutors believe was set aside as bribe money.
Chu reported to the MJIB's Kaohsiung City Branch Office around 1pm on Saturday and his wife arrived around 6pm. After a nearly 20-hour interrogation, prosecutors decided to file the detention application, was immediately granted by the court.
"They defended themselves during the interrogation with prosecutors. However, judges did not believe their statements so they approved the prosecutors' request," Lin said.
According to Lin, the court hearing actually began at 1:30am yesterday because, in addition to Chu's and Wu's detention applications, judges also held a hearing to discuss whether to approve another request to detain PFP Kaohsiung City Councilor Wang Ling-jiao (
Prior to being released on bail, Wang had been interrogated for almost 21 hours because investigators discovered an usual NT$4 million transaction in her bank account, which she failed to clearly explain.
Earlier on Saturday night, the court also granted the prosecutors' request to detain DPP Kaohsiung City Council caucus whip Jan Yung-lung (詹永龍) on the same charge. His wife, Jan Wang Po-yun (詹王泊雲), was released on NT$200,000 bail. During the Friday night raid, investigators discovered NT$2 million in cash at Jan's home, which prosecutors believe was a bribe payment.
Following a prosecutors' summons on Friday night, Kaohsiung City Government's Bureau of Civil Affairs Director Wang Wen-cheng (王文正) finally reported to the prosecutors' office on Saturday night. He was released without any charges after a short interview.
Also on Friday night, another team of investigators, led by Chief Prosecutor Lin Ching-tsung (林慶宗), raided Wang's residence, where they discovered a heavy locked safe.
Wang was suspected of helping Chu distribute bribe money. In addition, the contents of the locked safe were suspected to be part of Chu's bribe packages.
According to Chou Chang-chin (周章欽), spokesman of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office, investigators confirmed that the safe only contained Wang's personal belongings after he let them see the contents on Saturday night.
"There was no relevant evidence of his being involved. So we decided to let him go," Chou said.
According to Article 108 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (
According to Tsai Sung-hsiung (蔡松雄), the newly elected vice speaker of the Kaohsiung City Council, he will sit in for Chu during his detention.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
RSS