The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday returned a verdict of not-guilty for two men charged with vote-buying in the Kaohsiung mayoral election last December.
Last year, then Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayoral candidate Chen Chu (陳菊) accused Ku Hsin-ming (古鋅酩) and Tsai Neng-hsiang (蔡能祥) of handing out money to supporters on chartered buses on their way to an election-eve rally for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英).
The two later admitted that they had given passengers on the buses NT$500 each in return for their votes for "a candidate in the Kaohsiung mayoral election and a Kaohsiung city councilor candidate."
The judges, while acknowledging that the accused had handed out money, found Ku and Tsai not-guilty because they decided that the money was given as payment for attending the campaign rally. As recipients were not required to vote for Huang, this did not amount to vote-buying, the judges ruled.
The court said the men had attempted to solicit votes, rather than buy votes.
Upon hearing of the ruling, Kaohsiung prosecutors said they would appeal to the high court.
"This verdict could mislead candidates and their campaign managers into believing that what happened in this case does not amount to vote-buying. That is not correct," said Chung Chung-hsiao (鍾忠孝), spokesman for the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office.
Chung said a campaign manager had been found guilty in a similar case in Kaohsiung last year.
"It is not right that different judges make different rulings when the charges and crimes are the same," Chung said. "We cannot accept it [the ruling] and will appeal."
When approached for comment, Chen, now mayor of Kaohsiung, said that the verdict was not in keeping with the Ministry of Justice's definition of vote-buying.
Chen said the verdict was tantamount to telling legislative candidates that they would not be found guilty of buying votes as long as they did not give anyone more than NT$500.
Chen said she expected an "impartial" verdict on appeal.
Chen defeated Huang in the election by 379,417 votes to 378,303 votes, a margin of 0.14 percent.
Huang filed two lawsuits on Dec. 28, one challenging the election process, the other the result.
The Kaohsiung District Court ruled in June that Chen's camp had violated the Election and Recall Law (
Chen appealed, which led to a final verdict last Friday in which the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung branch overruled the district court ruling that had annulled Chen's victory.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang and staff writer
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
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
A British man was arrested for attempting to smuggle 14.37kg of marijuana into Taiwan through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei Customs said late yesterday. The man, who arrived from Bangkok at 9pm on Friday, was asked by customs officers to open his luggage during a random inspection, Taipei Customs said in a news release. The passenger, whose identity was not disclosed, refused to open his suitcase and tried to flee the restricted area. He was eventually subdued by three customs officials and an Aviation Police Bureau officer. A later search of his checked luggage uncovered 14.37kg of marijuana buds. The case was handed over
RSS