Prosecutors are detaining Kaohsiung City Council vice speaker Tsai Sung-hsiung (
"Tsai allegedly accepted NT$25 million from Speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) and distributed the money to five PFP councilors in return for their support for Chu," said Chou Chang-chin (周章欽), spokesman for the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office.
Chu, a political independent, has been charged with bribery in connection with the speakership election he won on Dec. 25 last year and has been detained since Dec. 29.
Tsai, also an independent, answered a summons at the Kaohsiung office of the Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday. The bureau decided to transfer him to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office for further interrogation around 10am yesterday.
Prosecutor Hsiao Yu-cheng (
Chou said that law enforcement officers had discovered that Tsai had an agreement with five PFP councilors to pay each of them NT$5 million to vote for him in the speakership election. But Tsai later calculated that he could not defeat Chu. So he decided not to stand, withdrew his original offer and instead asked the five councilors to vote for Chu, under an arrangement by which the five and Tsai would receive NT$5 million each from Chu.
Chou said prosecutors have identified 33 people as defendants in the case, including Tsai, but he refused to name them. According to the spokesman, prosecutors are planning to complete their investigation and indict the suspects soon.
Before Tsai entered the prosecutors' office yesterday morning, he told reporters that he would tell prosecutors everything he knew.
"I have no choice. I can only do what I have to do," he said.
Tsai is a veteran Kaohsiung City councilor who won his fifth term last year. After Chu was arrested and detained, Tsai took over Chu's responsibilities, signing official documents and chairing council meetings.
The first regular meeting for the council is scheduled to be held on March 31. The council's Public Relations Department said that all council meetings would go ahead as planned.
"Under the law, if both the speaker and the vice speaker are unable to perform their duties, the council must name temporary replacements, elected by all the councilors, within 15 days of the first day on which the speaker and vice speaker were not able to perform," said Liu Yi-hsing (劉義興), the director of the council's Public Relations Department.
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