Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday said the investigation into the Kaohsiung vote-buying scandal could soon be closed after a key individual in the investigation had been apprehended.
The Kaohsiung District Court early yesterday morning agreed to prosecutor requests to detain Tsai Neng-hsiang (蔡能祥), nicknamed Hei Sung (黑松), who admitted under questioning that he gave 48 individuals on a bus NT$500 (US$15) each and asked them to vote for a mayoral and a Kaohsiung city councilor candidate.
Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝) yesterday said Tsai told prosecutors that Ku Hsin-ming (古鋅酩) had ordered him to give money to bribe the voters, adding that he had no idea who else was behind the vote-buying scheme.
Prosecutors are still looking for Ku, who is rumored to have rented a bus that carried Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (
While prosecutors are on the lookout for Ku, they were still not clear on whether Huang Chun-ying or KMT Kaohsiung City councilor candidate Huang Po-ling (黃柏霖). knew about the vote-buying or had ordered Tsai and Ku to do so.
Prosecutors could not rule out the possibility that the two Huang campaign staffers or other individuals had decided to act on their own initiative, Chung added.
"We have questioned more than 20 individuals on the bus so far. They all admitted to receiving NT$500 and being asked to vote for a mayoral candidate and city councilor candidate," Chung added.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
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