People should be on the alert for election bribery attempts with three days until the nine-in-one elections, the National Police Administration (NPA) said yesterday, adding that any suspected incidents should be reported to the authorities to keep the elections clean.
As of Tuesday, information about 1,333 individuals had been handed to prosecutors regarding alleged election bribery, information on 113 had been passed on regarding election-related violence and 593 for obstruction of electoral affairs, the NPA said.
The three days leading up to election day on Saturday would be the peak for vote-buying attempts and police are monitoring “hot spots” of potential illegal activity, it said.
Photo: CNA
Separately, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office ordered that personnel be stationed at police precincts to facilitate processes to combat vote-buying.
As of Tuesday, prosecutors’ offices had received 4,151 reports of election-related illegalities, of which 2,913 involved alleged vote buying, the High Prosecutors’ Office said.
Ninety-eight people had been detained and 62 others were in custody, it said, adding that it had released 85 people on bail and indicted 118.
It has postponed prosecution of 77 people in such cases, it said.
If people witness suspected vote-buying activity, they should report the incident using the hotline for the High Prosecutors’ Office — 0800-024-099, it said.
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) told lawmakers at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday that his ministry had 3,367 “ta” cases.
A “ta” case is an unofficial categorization used when prosecutors are sure there is criminal activity, but corpus delicti, the principle that a crime must be proved to have occurred before a person can be convicted, cannot be established.
Hopefully the elections would be fair, Tsai said, adding that the Ministry of Justice would strictly observe administrative neutrality.
The prosecutor-general has identified areas where vote-buying is rampant, he said, adding that the ministry has dispatched personnel to police precincts and has asked prosecutors from second appellate courts to assist them.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) asked if the ministry is looking into allegations that former minister of transportation and communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidate for New Taipei City mayor, was engaged in vote-buying.
Efforts to eradicate vote-buying should be applied equally, Tseng said.
Tsai said that the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office is investigating the allegations against Lin and if they warrant charges, the issue would be handled according to the law.
However, the ministry cannot make a ruling based on circumstantial evidence, he said.
BLUE WAVE: The KMT’s Chiang Wan-an defeated the DPP’s Chen Shih-chung and is to become Taipei mayor, while President Tsai Ing-wen stepped down as DPP chairperson after many of the party’s candidates, handpicked by the leadership, performed poorly The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday flipped key mayoral seats in Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, and won control of 13 out of 22 cities and counties in the nine-in-one local elections. President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) last night resigned as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson over a poor showing by the party’s candidates, who were handpicked by the DPP leadership rather than chosen through primaries. The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) won its first high-profile race with Hsinchu mayoral candidate Ann Kao (高虹安) defeating Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) of the DPP with 45.02 percent of the vote to Shen’s 35.68 percent. Voters were choosing more than
UNDETERRED: The US chip designer’s plan showed that Taiwan remains attractive for investment by global companies despite cross-strait tensions, Wang Mei-hua said US graphics chip designer Nvidia Corp is planning to relocate its Hong Kong-based logistics center to Taiwan, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said on Wednesday. The government had been in discussions with Nvidia regarding tax incentives to facilitate the move since last year, Wang said in an interview with the Central News Agency, adding that the two sides had reached a consensus. Wang did not provide details about the timetable for the move or the planned tax arrangements for Nvidia. The relocation would boost the local economy, as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is a major supplier of graphics processing
Kaohsiung police last week busted a money laundering operation suspected of seeking to interfere in tomorrow’s local elections. The operation was allegedly headed by a man surnamed Lee (李), who had received NT$9.5 billion (US$306.18 million) from China over the past six months, Kaohsiung police said yesterday, adding that Lee’s ring is suspected to be part of a larger Chinese effort to interfere in the elections and support pro-China candidates. Officers arrested Lee, 35, and his girlfriend, searched his mansion, and seized the money he had allegedly received from China and three luxury vehicles, police said. The operation was disguised as an online
‘NEWEST’: The company’s Arizona plant is to produce 5-nanometer chips in the initial stage and would later manufacture 3-nanometer chips, Morris Chang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) yesterday confirmed that the company plans to produce its most advanced 3-nanometer chips in the US as part of the company’s phase 2 plan at its plant in Phoenix, Arizona. The 91-year-old entrepreneur, who has been appointed as Taiwan’s envoy to APEC six times, yesterday morning held a news conference at the Presidential Office Building to discuss his delegation’s accomplishments at this year’s APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in Bangkok, which ended on Saturday. He was asked whether TSMC has plans to build advanced chips in the US. “TSMC’s plant in Arizona is
RSS