Public prosecutors have charged a Changhua County legislative candidate with vote-buying and detained him for questioning over violations of election law.
The court approved prosecutors’ requests on Wednesday to hold Changhua County independent candidate Hsu Jung-chin (許永金) incommunicado, citing evidence of his vote-buying activities.
Hsu is the first legislative candidate in the current campaign period to come under investigation.
Prosecutors yesterday continued to investigate the case taking witness testimony, as Hsu was taken to a judicial detention center in Changhua County.
“There was sufficient evidence of vote-buying after Hsu was questioned and we consider him to have violated Article 99 of the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法),” Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office spokesperson Huang Chih-jung (黃智勇) said.
Huang said the court judge granted prosecutors’ request to hold Hsu incommunicado to prevent him from absconding, destroying evidence or colluding with others on testimony.
Prosecutors said that Hsu invited local residents to a celebration for the opening of his campaign office headquarters on Friday last week and more than 400 people were given a one-day bus tour of Nantou County, which included visiting major attractions and meals.
Some participants admitted to sign up for the bus tour in exchange for casting their ballots for Hsu.
Witnesses said that organizers had used microphones on the buses to remind people to vote for Hsu.
Before his detention, Hsu attended a county government-organized televised program for candidates to present their platforms on Wednesday, where he downplayed the accusation of vote-buying by his office, saying: “People can see that I am here, so the rumor that I will be locked up is not true.”
He said he is innocent of the charges.
“I have not done anything wrong, and why should I buy votes from people?” he said.
However, following the program, he was summoned for questioning by prosecutors and taken to the local detention center in handcuffs.
Four supporters who financed the tour were also summoned for questioning to clarify their roles. Hsu’s uncle, Hsu Kan (許杆), reportedly paid NT$88,000 toward the bus tour and was detained after questioning on Monday.
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