The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday requested that a court detain three people, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns.
Chang is suspected of accessing the household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said.
Prosecutors on Monday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders.
Photo: CNA
The recall campaign leaders — Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh (許紹業) — were summoned as suspects in relation to the forgery investigation.
Prosecutors also questioned Renai District (仁愛) KMT committee director Chang Chin-fa (張金發), committee chairman Wu Kuo-sheng (吳國勝), first division secretary Hsiao Chuang-feng (蕭壯峰) and party office secretary-general Lee Ming-yi (李銘議).
Hsiao and Lee were released without bail, but Wu and Chang Chin-fa were reclassified as suspects and taken to the prosecutors’ office for more questioning.
Chang Yuan-hsiang was then summoned by prosecutors, who said they suspect he used his access to the household registration system to assist the recall campaign in finding personal information.
Prosecutors requested that the Keelung District Court detain Chang Yuan-hsiang, Chi and Chang Chin-fa on suspicion of contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), forging documents and destroying evidence.
Wu, Yu and Hsu were released on NT$300,000, NT$150,000 and NT$30,000 bail respectively.
In New Taipei City, the district court ordered that KMT New Taipei City branch secretary-general Chen Chen-jung (陳貞容) be detained and held incommunicado after being questioned for more than two hours, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
Authorities on Monday raided the party’s New Taipei City office and the residences of three people, including Chen, in connection with investigations into the use of forged signatures in recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers.
KMT Banciao office secretary Chu Pei-yi (朱蓓儀), KMT Sanchong District (三重) office executive director Lo Ta-yu (羅大宇) and Banciao party secretary Tsai Kan-tzu (蔡甘子) were released after questioning.
The searches on Monday included the KMT’s New Taipei City branch and followed earlier raids on April 15 targeting 30 locations, including the KMT’s Banciao and Sanchong branches.
KMT New Taipei City branch chairman Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄) criticized Chen’s detention as politically motivated and said the party would definitely file an appeal.
Huang said it was “incomprehensible” that prosecutors would initiate a second round of searches and questioning without presenting new evidence.
He also said that the court’s approval of the detention order after a “short one hour” hearing raised further concerns about the fairness of the proceedings.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-tung and Wu Sheng-ju
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