According to the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau, newly elected Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chu An-hsiung (
Chu and Tsai, both independents, are notorious for their black-gold image. Chu is also charged with vote-buying in the Dec. 7 city council election.
Information collected by investigators over the past few days shows that Chu and his running mate might have jointly bought votes in the speaker and deputy speaker elections in Kaohsiung City.
"Each vote for Chu was worth NT$6 million and each vote for Tsai was worth NT$2 million," an anonymous investigator is quoted as saying by the United Evening News.
"About 35 city councilors from both the ruling and opposition camps have taken large bribes from Chu and Tsai," the investigator said, adding that the total amount of the bribes is almost NT$300 million.
On Thursday, TSU Legislator Su Ying-kwei (
The investigator also revealed that all the vote-buying practices were conducted in cash only. Meanwhile, the money was withdrawn from neither Chu's nor Tsai's account making it difficult to collect direct evidence.
The Investigation Bureau is examining the accounts of the pair's family members and relatives, as well as of their companies.
Chu denied the allegations in a press conference yesterday. He also apologized to the 25 councilors who voted for him in the speakership election.
Of these councilors, 11 are from the KMT, six are from the PFP, and eight are independent.
"All 25 councilors who voted for me are innocent," Chu said, maintaining that there was no vote-buying in the speakership race.
"Otherwise, why did I not demand that these councilors show their ballots to me during the vote?" Chu asked.
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