Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔) yesterday resigned from his post after being released on bail late on Tuesday for allegedly using public household registration rolls to aid a recall effort against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors.
Keelung City Government spokesman Lu Ching-wei (呂謦煒) yesterday said that Chang had submitted his resignation and it had been approved by Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑).
The department’s deputy director, Chao Ming-hua (趙明華), would serve as acting director, Lu added.
Photo: CNA
Late on Tuesday night, the Keelung District Court released Chang on NT$400,000 bail.
Chang is suspected of accessing the household registration system to verify or obtain personal data to assist with the recall petition targeting DPP city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), the court said.
After being questioned, Chang “admitted” to personal data protection offenses and document forgery, the court said, adding that it denied a request by prosecutors to detain him after taking into account Chang’s confession.
The court said that it was unnecessary to detain Chang, as he had admitted guilt during questioning, despite there being concerns of collusion and tampering with witnesses.
However, he is restricted to his residence and is barred from having contact with other suspects or witnesses in the case, it added.
Two other suspects — recall campaign leader Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Renai District (仁愛) committee director Chang Chin-fa (張金發) — were detained incommunicado.
The court ordered that Chi and Chang Chin-fa be detained, as they are accused of the “serious crimes” of illegally using personal data in contravention of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and forging private documents.
Prosecutors also found chat group messages in which Chi removed the original members and advised people to leave the group after a member shared a news article about the KMT headquarters in Tainan being searched in relation to another recall petition forgery investigation, the court said.
The court rulings came after the prosecutors in charge of an investigation into the use of alleged fraudulent signatures in the recall petitions against DPP city councilors raided six locations in Keelung on Monday.
The raids mirrored other actions by prosecutors across Taiwan over the past few weeks, mostly targeting KMT offices to crack down on alleged signature fraud in campaigns to recall DPP lawmakers or local government officials.
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