Prosecutors in Kaohsiung yesterday offered to suspend charges against city councilors who confess to having taken bribes in the election of the council's speaker.
"Prosecutors will suspend the prosecution of these councilors if they turn themselves in before being summoned," Chou Chang-chin (
"We hope that they can admit it to us and help us close the case if they did receive bribes," Chou said.
The deal guarantees suspects protection from prosecution if they do not break the law again within one to three years, at the prosecutors' discretion.
Independent Councilor Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) was elected the council's speaker last week, winning 25 of 44 votes, all from PFP, KMT and independent councilors.
Allegations of vote-buying, in which up to NT$5 million was paid for each vote, immediately surfaced, prompting the chairmen of the KMT and PFP to call for Chu to be recalled.
With the help of Chu's sister-in-law, Wu Pin-fang (吳品芳), prosecutors identified 10 councilors, whom they declined to name, as prime suspects on Wednesday.
On Tuesday night, prosecutors imposed foreign-travel bans on 28 of the city's 44 councilors.
Yesterday's offer applies to all 28 councilors under suspicion, including the 10 prime suspects.
According to Chou, the 10 will be summoned within "the next few days." He said they came from different parties but refused to offer more details.
The spokesman refused to confirm whether Wu had testified against other suspects or provided more details of the case.
"She only gave us some useful details and clues. Prosecutors believed that there was no possibility of her exchanging information with other suspects or destroying any relevant evidence in the case so we decided to let her go. That's all," Chou said.
Wu is the financial manager of the An Feng Group (安峰集團), of which Chu is the president.
In addition to Wu's testimony, Chou said that Hsien Ji-yu (賢繼禹), the secretary-general of Chu's office, "told prosecutors how Chu used his company money before, during and after the election."
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