Fri, Dec 26, 2003 page2

• Lin acquitted of bribery, now wants to rejoin DPP

  NOT GUILTY The court found that Peter Lin, who was expelled from the DPP after allegations of being involved in a vote-buying scandal, was innocent

  • By Fiona Lu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Independent Legislator Peter Lin (林進興) said he would like to go back to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after a court ruling declared that he was not guilty in a bribery case.

  "I would like to renew my DPP membership after the ruling proved my innocence. My hope of returning to the party was the reason that I still side with the DPP caucus despite being expelled," Lin said in a press conference after the High Court concluded that he was innocent of taking a bribe from former Kaohsiung City Council Speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄).

  He nonetheless said that the DPP must assure his right to join in the party's primary election campaign for the next legislative election.

  "To avoid the party's one-year ban on new members' participation in primary elections, I look forward to seeing the party reinstate my original membership, rather than having to join the DPP as a new member," Lin said.

  If the DPP turns down his request, Lin said he will consider joining the tiny Taiwan Solidarity Union to run in the year-end legislative election campaign next year.

  DPP whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), who accompanied Lin to the press conference, supported Lin's return.

  "The reason for Lin's expulsion has ceased after the ruling. We hope that members of the DPP central review committee will deliberate on reinstating Lin's membership," Ker said.

  Lin, who represented a Kaohsiung constituency, was expelled from the DPP after allegedly being bribed by Chu to help Chu win the speakership after the councilor election last December.

  Prosecutors at the Kaohsiung District Office indicted 34 elected councilors, including Lin's ex-wife Chang Wen-hsiao (章玟琇), for their alleged involvement in the bribery scandal.

  Lin was the only legislator prosecuted for alleged bribery after he allegedly accompanied Chang to meet Chu's wife to receive a bribe of NT$5 million on the eve of the speaker election.

  The District Court originally sentenced Lin and his ex-wife to one-and-a-half years in prison for taking the bribe. The High Court made the new ruling yesterday as a result of Lin and Chang's lodging an appeal.

  "The ruling concluded that Lin is not guilty of bribery, since he was not eligible to vote in the speaker election," said Wang Kuang-chao (王光照), presiding judge at the High Court's Kaohsiung office.

  Since Lin was not eligible to vote, the High Court ruled that Chu had no interest in buying his vote, while the judge also learned from Chang in a confession after the first ruling that Lin was unaware of the vote-buying agreed between Chu and her, Wang said.

  The High Court ruled that there was no link between Lin and the bribery and found him innocent, the presiding judge told reporters.

  The High Court sentenced Chang to a jail term of 8 months and she also lost her position as councillor.
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