The Kaohsiung District Courts approved a Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office request to detain Kaohsiung City Council DPP caucus whip Jan Yung-lung (詹永龍) on the charge of bribery yesterday.
Jan was being held while his wife was released on NT$200,000 bail.
Newly-elected Speaker Chu An-hsiung (
Meanwhile, PFP Kaohsiung City Councilor Wang Ling-jiao (王齡嬌) was transferred to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office for further interrogation around 7pm yesterday after a nearly 15-hour interview at the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau (MJIB) Kaohsiung City branch office.
Prosecutors said they found a NT$4 million deposit in Wang's bank account that Wang was unable to account for.
Chu was still being interviewed by prosecutors and special agents from the MJIB as of press time yesterday.
Prosecutors raided 40 different locations on Friday night to search for evidence of vote-buying during the Kaohsiung City Council speakership election. Investigators, including prosecutors and the MJIB's special agents, discovered NT$2 million cash, suspected to be bribe money from Chu, at Jan's residence on Friday night and brought him back to the MJIB's Kaohsiung City Branch Office for interrogation.
Jan was transferred to the prosecutors' office for further questioning around 4am yesterday but was arrested by prosecutors and charged with bribery because he could not explain where the money came from. To detain him, prosecutors filed the detention application around 2pm yesterday.
Also on Friday night, another group of investigators discovered NT$3.5 million cash, also suspected to be bribe money, at Chu's residence while Chu was not present. Prosecutors then summoned Chu and banned him for traveling outside the country.
Chu reported to the MJIB's Kaohsiung City branch office approximately 1pm yesterday to be interviewed by investigators. The interview was still in process as of press time yesterday.
Before entering the interrogation room, Chu kept saying that the NT$3.5 million discovered at his place was definitely not bribe money but he could not explain where the money came from when asked by reporters.
At 6pm yesterday, Chu's wife, Wu Te-mei (
"Our investigation shows that the NT$2 million at Jan's place and the NT$3.5 million at Chu's place were withdrawn from the same bank account," said Chou Chang-chin (周章欽), the spokesman of the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office.
Also on Friday night, a third team of investigators, led by Chief Prosecutor Lin Ching-tsung (林慶宗), raided Kaohsiung City Government's Bureau of Civil Affairs Director Wang Wen-cheng's (王文正) residence where they discovered a heavy locked safe.
Wang is suspected helping Chu distribute bribe money. Personal belongings inside the safe were thought to be part of Chu's bribe packages.
"We need him [Wang] to clarify many things and open his safe for us as well. We are now considering to apply for an arrest warrant if he still doesn't show up with 24 hours. Also, we will ask a locksmith to help us open the safe if necessary," Lin said.
Investigators have interviewed 31 Kaohsiung City councilors in the case. Eight of them are DPP members, 11 of them are KMT members, four of them are PFP members and the rest of them are all independent councilors.
Chu, a 58-year-old independent city councilor, just won his fifth term during the election on Dec. 7 and the speakership with 25 votes from a total amount of 44 city councilors on Wednesday.Also See Stories:
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