The Taichung District Court yesterday granted the request of Taichung prosecutors to detain two Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) staff members suspected of falsifying signatures on petitions aimed at recalling two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.
Chen Chien-feng (陳劍鋒) and Wu Kang-lung (伍康龍) from the KMT’s Taichung chapter allegedly committed multiple offenses to push recall votes against DPP legislators Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) and Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純), the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.
The alleged offenses include contraventions of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), the office said.
Photo: CNA
Prosecutors asked the court for permission to detain Chen and Wu, saying that it was necessary to prevent possible collusion and destruction of evidence.
Prosecutors on Friday questioned 13 people, including Chen and Wu, regarding alleged signature falsification in the recall campaigns against Tsai and Ho.
Six were released on bail ranging from NT$100,000 to NT$200,000 (US$3,219 to US$6,438) and ordered not to leave the country. Five faced no further action.
Six people involved in a separate recall effort in Taichung against KMT legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), Liao Wei-hsiang (廖偉翔) and Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) were also questioned, with none facing further action.
Prosecutors initiated the probes following a Central Election Commission report that cited allegations of forgery, including petitions bearing the signatures of deceased people.
Prosecutors on Friday searched eight locations in Taichung and Changhua County, including offices associated with “one or more political parties,” as well as residences and district offices of those questioned.
The probe showed that the recall campaigns had collected petitions bearing the signatures of 154 dead people, with 83 on petitions against Tsai, 66 against Ho, three against Liao, and one each against Yen and Huang, commission data showed.
The raids mirrored actions by prosecutors nationwide in the past few weeks, mostly targeting KMT offices.
As of yesterday, prosecutors had also searched KMT chapters in Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Yilan County, Changhua County, Kaohsiung and Tainan.
The investigations have resulted in the detention of several KMT chapter officials, including KMT Taipei chapter chairwoman Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹).
The recall campaigns were started by the DPP, with DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in early January calling for a mass recall of KMT lawmakers.
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
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region