The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday took four people into custody for questioning in relation to a judicial investigation into allegations of vote-buying in Aboriginal constituencies in the recently concluded election campaign.
Prosecutors said the four are suspected vote-brokers who acted on behalf of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Aboriginal Legislator Chien Tung-ming (簡東明).
Chien, 64, is from Pingtung County’s Paiwan community. He also goes by his Paiwan name, Uliw Qaljupayare.
Chien first represented the KMT after he won an Aboriginal legislator seat in 2008, but there were vote-buying charges and judicial proceedings against him arising from that election.
After the 2008 poll, Chien, his wife, the director of his campaign office and several vote-brokers working for Chien, were indicted on vote-buying charges and other election violations.
Authorities seized NT$4.2 million (US$124,165 at current exchange rates) — which was allegedly used for vote-buying — from Chien’s residence. Three people associated with buying votes for Chien were found guilty and given prison terms in 2012, but Chien denied association with the trio and was later found not guilty by the Taiwan High Court in 2013.
In the current investigation, Taichung prosecutors said they received reports on Jan. 3 that vote-brokers were paying NT$300 to voters in mountain villages in Taichung’s Taiping District (太平), most of whom were Bunun Aboriginals.
The four suspects are all Bunun from Taiping District (太平).
Investigators said a suspect allegedly took NT$100,000 and distributed the money to the three vote-brokers in question, and allegedly paid out NT$300 to Aboriginal residents while instructing them to vote for Chien.
Prosecutors said that a number of village residents in the region had admitted to receiving NT$300 in exchange for their votes, and a judicial investigation is being broadened to question more witnesses and other suspects.
In the Aboriginal legislator contest for mountain constituencies, Chien and his KMT colleague Kung Weh-chih (孔文吉) won two of the three seats being contested by 10 candidates. The other seat went to May Chin (高金素梅), who ran as a member for the Non-Partisan Solidarity Union.
For the lowland Aboriginal constituencies, there were also three seats up for grabs. The Democratic Progressive Party’s Chen Ying (陳瑩), along with two KMT members — Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) and Cheng Tien-tsai (鄭天財) — won those races.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
RSS