On the basis of a confession allegedly faxed from Los Angeles by a former Changhua County deputy commissioner, DPP legislative candidate Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀) filed suit yesterday against the KMT for buying votes during last year's presidential election.
The Changhua District's Prosecutors' Office (
On Sept. 23 this year, Chiang received the alleged confession by fax, apparently from Chang. Chiang transferred the fax to Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Chiang approached a man who claims to be a KMT legislator and a close friend of Chang to authenticate the statement. The legislator added a statement to the fax, stating that Chang's signature was genuine, but insisting on remaining anonymous. The fax was then sent to the justice minister.
"The Ministry of Justice is making no official comment about the [alleged] Chang statement at this moment," said Chen at a press conference yesterday. "The prosecutors know how to deal with it and they will continue to investigate the case."
The alleged confession states that the KMT set aside NT$270 million to buy votes in Changhua District for the presidential election. He says that he received the order from the KMT's Changhua County headquarters to use NT$50 million to buy as many votes as possible. He personally received that sum at 3pm on March 10 last year.
Chang says he was in charge of buying votes in Yuanlin (
Approximately 900,000 people were registered as voters in Changhua County for the presidential election.
"The Changhua Water Conservancy Association Chairman Chen Ding-yun (陳釘雲), Changhua County Commissioner Juan Kang-meng (阮剛猛), Changhua County Council Speaker Pei Hung-san (白鴻森) and KMT Changhua County Headquarters Director Lay Min-yueh (雷民悅) were the four major players in Changhua County during the presidential election," the statement says.
"Other than asking for money from the governor, we also requested more monetary support from Chang Chang-pang (張昌邦), the former deputy minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs -- who is now the chairman of the KMT business committee -- during his regular visits to Changhua County," the statement added.
It also says that Chen, Juan, Pei, Lay and Chang often visited Chao Shou-po (趙守博), the former Taiwan governor who is now the head of the KMT's Organization and Development Committee, to request more funds.
The statement also says that Yeh Ching-feng (
Yeh was the Minister of Justice when the alleged vote-buying occurred. She was recalled by the KMT to run for z congressional seat in Changhua district this year.
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