The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday handed former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Wu Der-mei (吳德美) a three-year sentence for vote-buying for her daughter in a Kaohsiung councilor by-election.
The ruling said Wu asked former chief of Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) Sun Jung-wen (孫榮文) and a man named Hung Ching-kuo (洪進國) to give NT$500 to voters in Siaogang and asked them to vote for her daughter, Chu Ting-yu (朱挺玗), who was then running as an independent for the Kaohsiung councilor election in 2006.
Hung was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison, but the court granted him four-year probation.
While the verdict for Sun is final, Wu can still appeal, the ruling said.
Wu is serving a prison term at Kaohsiung Women’s Prison for embezzling NT$2 billion (US$58.8 million) from her company, An Feng Group.
Wu’s husband, former An Feng Group president and Kaohsiung City councilor Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄), is on the wanted list. Chu An-hsiung was convicted on charges of vote-buying in September 2003 and sentenced to 22 months in jail. He fled to China before he was to begin his jail term in October 2003, despite efforts by law officials to monitor his whereabouts.
Meanwhile, Lienchiang District Court detained a man for alleged vote-buying ahead of the Lienchiang County Council speakership election scheduled for Monday.
Lin Ching-tsung (林慶宗), chief prosecutor at the Lienchiang Prosecutors’ Office in Matsu, led prosecutors and agents from the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau on Monday to search 10 locations in Matsu and found NT$5 million in cash at a construction company owned by Chang Ching-chiu (張金秋). The Lienchiang District Court called for Chang to be detained on Tuesday.
Lin said prosecutors suspected Chang was asked by a county councilor to use the NT$5 million to bribe another councilor, but the latter did not receive the money.
Lin declined to name the two councilors, but said that more councilors would be summoned for questioning in the investigation.
There are nine councilors in the county council. A councilor can be elected as speaker if he or she garners five votes. Local media said four of the nine were interested in the speaker position.
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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