Taoyuan police yesterday arrested four people on suspicion of producing a VCD to defame Taoyuan County commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫), a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) who is standing for re-election in the Dec. 3 local government elections.
"Police learned that there were people who were producing a VCD and planning to publish it in order to defame Chu, so police raided a company studio at Zhongxiao E Rd (忠孝東路) in Taipei on Friday night, seizing the VCD," the Taoyuan Police Bureau said in a press statement yesterday.
The statement said that police arrested the VCD's producer, Peng Jin-wen (彭金萬), and three of his aides. The four were then released after police took statements.
Police said that because the VCD has not been released, the suspects had not violated the Law of Offenses Against Personal Reputation and Credits (妨害名譽罪), so they would let Taoyuan prosecutors decide whether to charge them.
Police said they were trying to prevent any illegal activities that could impact the Dec. 3 elections.
Police said that in the 45-minute VCD, four actors are seen chatting about the Chu and his family. They insinuate that Chu had an affair with his former secretary, and that Chu's father-in-law Kao Yu-jen (高育仁), a former KMT speaker of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly, has intervened in the county government's affairs.
Police said the VCD was very similar to the "Special Report" series of VCDs, which were first released in the runup to last year's presidential elections to blacken the name of People first Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) and other pan-blue politicians.
Chu yesterday told reporters that he appreciated police efforts to crack down on such VCDs.
"I suspect my opponent was behind the VCD," Chu added.
But Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taoyuan commissioner candidate Cheng Po-ching (
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
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