Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), was taken in for questioning by prosecutors yesterday evening following a search of Lee’s office earlier in the afternoon.
Lee was charged with corruption by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office on Dec. 31 last year following his victory in the city councilor election on Nov. 29. Prosecutors are also looking into the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) allegation that Lee was only elected as speaker on Dec. 25 last year because some DPP city councilors voted for him in return for money offered by the KMT, which holds only 19 seats in the 57-seat city council.
Lee was still being questioned as of press time last night.
Photo: CNA
Aside from Lee, six other Tainan city councilors were also summoned by prosecutors for questioning yesterday, the office said.
On Jan. 26, Tainan prosecutors indicted five people in the alleged Nov. 29 election vote-buying case. Among them were Huang Cheng-ching (黃澄清), the head of the Farmers’ Association in Yuching District (玉井) who campaigned for Lee as his chief executive; Lee Li-hua (李麗華), who was elected as a borough warden; Kang Ching-liang (康清良), who was charged with involvement in the vote-buying scheme; and two others who were accused of accepting money from Kang for their votes.
According to the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, in August last year Huang allegedly gave Lee Li-hua NT$300,000 (US$9,475) after she was promised NT$5,000 per household in her borough in bribes for votes. Huang later commissioned Kang to carry out the transfer of funds.
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