The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday questioned 14 New Taipei City borough wardens and other residents for allegedly taking a Beijing-funded trip in exchange for supporting political candidates favored by China in next month’s elections.
A New Taipei City borough warden surnamed Hsu (許) and a businesswoman surnamed Chen (陳) were questioned about alleged contraventions of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), the office said.
They were each released on bail of NT$500,00, it said.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
The duo is accused of arranging a free trip for wardens from Nov. 21 to 24 in China’s Jiangsu Province at the behest of local Taiwan affairs officials, it said.
The scheme targeted wardens in New Taipei City’s Tucheng (土城), Jhonghe (中和), Yonghe (永和), Banciao (板橋) and Shulin (樹林) districts, the office said, adding that they were either Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members or political independents.
About 10 wardens and the same number of their friends and family went on the trip, with the former paying nothing and the latter paying only for airplane tickets, it said.
Hsu, Chen and Chinese officials told members of the tour group during banquets which political party they should support, the office said.
The other wardens were questioned about taking a bribe for their vote and allegedly breaching the Criminal Code. They were released with travel restrictions, except for a warden surnamed Chu (朱), who was released on NT$30,000 bail, the office said.
Meanwhile, the Keelung District Court yesterday approved the pretrial detention of Wu Shih-chin (吳石金), a Keelung borough warden, the first warden to be held in pretrial detention in connection with China’s alleged trips-for-votes scheme.
Wu faces indictments on charges related to breaching the Anti-Infiltration Act and election laws.
Yesterday’s hearing was the third time the issue of Wu’s detention was heard at the court, after its previous decisions were overturned.
The latest ruling represented a reversal from the court’s second ruling to release Wu on NT$50,000 bail.
Wu had been to China six times and deleted the chat history on his smartphone, showing that he would present a flight risk and there was the danger of evidence tampering were he to be released, the presiding judge said.
The warden of Siaogang Borough (孝岡) in Keelung’s Sinyi District (信義), Wu is accused of leading 12 wardens and 11 other people on a Beijing-funded tour of China’s Shandong Province from Nov. 21 to 26, the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Members of the tour group paid a token fee of NT$5,500 and each received 1,000 yuan (US$141) in cash upon their arrival, the office said, adding that Chinese officials urged them to vote for the KMT throughout the trip.
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
‘CRUDE’: The potential countermeasure is in response to South Africa renaming Taiwan’s representative offices and the insistence that it move out of Pretoria Taiwan is considering banning exports of semiconductors to South Africa after the latter unilaterally downgraded and changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. On Monday last week, the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally released a statement saying that, as of April 1, the Taipei Liaison Offices in Pretoria and Cape Town had been renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg” and the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.” Citing UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, it said that South Africa “recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole
RSS