Prosecutors in Changhua, Taichung, Chiayi and Yunlin are all investigating cases of alleged bribery related to Saturday's legislative elections, officials said yesterday.
In Changhua County, former National Assembly member Chen Pao-bin (
"We have been recording his conversations and phone calls and following him for a while. We realized that he is a heavyweight vote captain for a local candidate," said Chen Sung-chi (
Chen Sung-chi said a gag order prevented him from identifying the candidate.
According to the prosecutors' office, Chen Pao-bin said he had been helping the unidentified candidate before he was detained yesterday.
Independent candidate Chiang Chu-sheng's (江春盛) vote captain Wu Chin-ho (吳金河) was detained for allegedly buying votes for Chiang. Prosecutors discovered NT$380,000 in alleged bribe money at Wu's office.
Wu denied that he had been involved in bribery, but was arrested on the strength of statements by 16 people who admitted that they had accepted bribes from him.
Liu Sung-wu (
Yen yesterday denied any involvement in such a plan.
"I did not know that he would do this. I did not ask him to do so, either," Yen said.
In Chiayi, prosecutors received secret tips from unidentified sources claiming that Chen Yu-lin (
Prosecutors questioned and released Chen Yu-lin, Chang and 29 other people, who all denied involvement in bribery.
In Yunlin, prosecutors investigated bribery claims against the father of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate Chang Sho-wen (張碩文). Investigators found a list of voters' names, as well as free giveaways including little flags and flyers for Chang Sho-wen's campaign, at the office of his father, Chang Hui-yuan (張輝元).
Chang Sho-wen's spokeswoman, Chang Yu-hsuan (
"Chang Sho-wen is one of the candidates who is strongly against vote-buying. We hope that prosecutors can go through the details to determine if our political enemies are trying to take advantage of these false allegations to defeat us," Chang Yu-hsuan said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
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