Prosecutors yesterday raided the office of independent Keelung City Councilor Chang Fang-li (張芳麗), who was elected council speaker on Thursday, on suspicion of bribery and vote-buying.
The council elected a new speaker to fill the position vacated by Chang Tong-rong (
The competition for the speakership was intense, with the KMT candidate and current deputy speaker of the council Tseng Shui-yuan (曾水源) losing to Chang Fang-li by one vote. Chang garnered 16 votes against Tseng's 15.
Chang Fang-li ran as an independent after failing to secure the KMT's nomination for the election. She announced her withdrawal from the KMT after winning the by-election on Thursday.
Keelung lead prosecutor Lee Jia-ming (
Lee led seven prosecutors and a number of agents from the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau to raid Chang and several other councilors' offices and their residences, seizing a number of documents.
KMT councilors Huang Ching-tai (
The questioning was continuing as of press time.
Chang Fang-li yesterday chaired her first council meeting.
She told reporters she was "clean" and had done nothing wrong during the election.
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CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
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Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique