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
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday said it is building nine new advanced wafer manufacturing and packaging factories this year, accelerating its expansion amid strong demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The chipmaker built on average five factories per year from 2021 to last year and three from 2017 to 2020, TSMC vice president of advanced technology and mask engineering T.S. Chang (張宗生) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “We are quickening our pace even faster in 2025. We plan to build nine new factories, including eight wafer fabrication plants and one advanced
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s