One person has been detained, while six others have posted bail after being questioned by prosecutors on suspicion of purchasing personal information to use in Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) signature drive to appear on next year’s presidential ballot.
The detainee, a woman surnamed Shen (沈), and the other six were questioned by the Taipei Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office after being linked to an investigation into reports that some people were being paid NT$400 for their signatures, while others had no idea why their names were among the signatures gathered.
The seven are suspected of buying customer lists from pawnshops in New Taipei City and using the information for the signature drive, prosecutors said.
Photo: CNA
The suspects face charges for breaching the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), prosecutors said, adding that people who offer bribes and other undue benefits for a person’s signature during such a drive can be sentenced to up to seven years in prison and fined up to NT$10 million (US$309,138).
Similar cases have been reported across Taiwan, National Police Agency Director-General Huang Ming-chao (黃明昭) said yesterday.
Police are investigating reports of bribery, people buying lists of personal information and other illegal activities that have allegedly taken place at Gou’s signature drive stations, Huang said.
Local media reported that a business tycoon surnamed Chen (陳), who owns several hot spring hotels and properties in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), was one of the six suspects who posted bail.
He reportedly paid NT$3 million, the highest bond posted, while the lowest paid was NT$15,000.
Gou’s campaign spokesman Huang Shih-hsiu (黃士修) denied any direct relationship with the suspects.
“Those local stations ... embroiled in bribery allegations are not associated with our official offices for Gou’s signature drive. We have nothing to do with those involved, and the people at our offices do not even know [them],” he said.
“When we started the signature drive, from day one, we stressed that there would be no financial benefit for people to sign on, as Guo and his aides have explicitly forbidden any illegal activities,” Huang Shih-hsiu said. “We shall cooperate with prosecutors for the investigation.”
Gou canceled all planned appearances yesterday, leading to speculation that it was was due to the investigation or because Chinese tax authorities had searched Hon Hai’s offices in China.
Gou’s campaign office yesterday morning announced that he would not attend a banquet at Jhongsing Temple (忠興宮) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), which he had planned to attend with Taiwan People’s Party Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Gou’s running mate, Tammy Lai (賴佩霞), took his place.
Huang Shih-hsiu said that Gou had just made changes to his personal itinerary and had not canceled because of either investigation.
“But Gou felt it was not quite proper, so he arranged for ... Lai to take his place ... [at] the Jhongsing Temple activities,” Huang said.
Additional reporting by Yang Kuo-wen
and Huang Ching-hsuan
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
‘SECRETS’: While saying China would not attack during his presidency, Donald Trump declined to say how Washington would respond if Beijing were to take military action US President Donald Trump said that China would not take military action against Taiwan while he is president, as the Chinese leaders “know the consequences.” Trump made the statement during an interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, a few days after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea. “He [Xi] has openly said, and his people have openly said at meetings, ‘we would never do anything while President Trump is president,’ because they know the consequences,” Trump said in the interview. However, he repeatedly declined to say exactly how Washington would respond in
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday that China using armed force against Taiwan could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, allowing the country to mobilize the Japanese armed forces under its security laws. Takaichi made the remarks during a parliamentary session yesterday while responding to a question about whether a "Taiwan contingency" involving a Chinese naval blockade would qualify as a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, according to a report by Japan’s Asahi Shimbun. "If warships are used and other armed actions are involved, I believe this could constitute a survival- threatening
WARFARE: All sectors of society should recognize, unite, and collectively resist and condemn Beijing’s cross-border suppression, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said The number of Taiwanese detained because of legal affairs by Chinese authorities has tripled this year, as Beijing intensified its intimidation and division of Taiwanese by combining lawfare and cognitive warfare, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) made the statement in response to questions by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Puma Shen (沈柏洋) about the government’s response to counter Chinese public opinion warfare, lawfare and psychological warfare. Shen said he is also being investigated by China for promoting “Taiwanese independence.” He was referring to a report published on Tuesday last week by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency,
RSS