Police should stop at nothing to crack down on vote buying, including pulling over the "black lim-ousines" of politicians on election day to check for illegal handouts, the Minister of the Interior Chang Po-ya (張博雅) said yesterday.
"Even a black limousine on the streets should be stopped and checked if our law-enforcement officials think the vehicle looks suspicious," Chang said.
Chang made the remarks yesterday at a seminar hosted by the Taiwan Police College.
The interior minister noted that an anonymous lawmaker once boasted that he would dare to drive his black limousine to deliver vote-buying money -- even though law-enforcement officials vowed to crack down on the practice.
"Because investigators and police officers know these black limousines belong to important people, they assume these people wouldn't be involved in any wrong-doing," Chang said.
"This attitude should be corrected from now on," she said. "And our police officers as well as investigators will have the power to enforce the law when necessary."
Chang said it was important that police be given sufficient resources to crack down on vote buying.
Once as mayor of Chiayi, Chang received a tip about a vote-buying case. She contacted a local prosecutor hoping that the suspects would be captured at the scene.
But while prosecutors took the information, the case wasn't followed up.
After three more phone calls, the prosecutor told her, "we do not have enough manpower at this moment."
In related news, the Ministry of Justice yesterday unveiled a program in which tipsters would receive NT$10 million for providing information on vote-buying related to the legislative races.
The ministry will pay NT$5 million if a suspect is found guilty after his first trial. The remainder would be paid after the final verdict is received.
Rewards for tip-offs related to the presidential election were as high as NT$15 million, while the pay-off is NT$5 million in councilor elections. The rewards will be paid from the Ministry of Justice's annual budget.
Wang Chin-wang (
"We have said more than once that this is for real this time," Wang said of the government's efforts to ensure clean elections during the Dec. 1 polls.
"The police definitely have the ability and determination to fight bribery, and we will not give up any case -- no matter who it is and where it is."
Through yesterday, the National Police Administration had received 365 reports of election-related wrong-doing.
Ten are related to violence and 113 are currently under investigation by local prosecutors.
In the meantime, police are monitoring 323 telephone numbers of candidates under suspicion.
Taipei and Chiayi prosecutors officially established yesterday special investigation centers to take vote-buying complaints.
"We will pull them off their posts if these candidates do buy votes," said Shih Mao-lin (
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
The nation’s usually punctual high-speed rail system yesterday was hit by major disruptions after all scheduled services were canceled and replaced with three hourly trains offering only non-reserved seating, affecting more than 200,000 passengers. Preliminary findings indicate the disruption was caused by a faulty power module in a track switch control cabinet, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) said, adding that as a full system inspection could only be conducted after operations end for the day, a decision on whether normal service would resume today would be announced before the first train departs. During a routine inspection early yesterday, a switch signal abnormality
RSS