According to the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau, newly elected Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chu An-hsiung (
Chu and Tsai, both independents, are notorious for their black-gold image. Chu is also charged with vote-buying in the Dec. 7 city council election.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Information collected by investigators over the past few days shows that Chu and his running mate might have jointly bought votes in the speaker and deputy speaker elections in Kaohsiung City.
"Each vote for Chu was worth NT$6 million and each vote for Tsai was worth NT$2 million," an anonymous investigator is quoted as saying by the United Evening News.
"About 35 city councilors from both the ruling and opposition camps have taken large bribes from Chu and Tsai," the investigator said, adding that the total amount of the bribes is almost NT$300 million.
On Thursday, TSU Legislator Su Ying-kwei (
The investigator also revealed that all the vote-buying practices were conducted in cash only. Meanwhile, the money was withdrawn from neither Chu's nor Tsai's account making it difficult to collect direct evidence.
The Investigation Bureau is examining the accounts of the pair's family members and relatives, as well as of their companies.
Chu denied the allegations in a press conference yesterday. He also apologized to the 25 councilors who voted for him in the speakership election.
Of these councilors, 11 are from the KMT, six are from the PFP, and eight are independent.
"All 25 councilors who voted for me are innocent," Chu said, maintaining that there was no vote-buying in the speakership race.
"Otherwise, why did I not demand that these councilors show their ballots to me during the vote?" Chu asked.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by