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.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as