The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday established a task force to combat bribery and election-related violence, which is to take special note of new methods of paying bribes, such as cryptocurrencies and mobile payments.
The November local elections would be a challenge for the judiciary, especially in three areas — bribery, fake news and possible foreign intervention — Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) said at the establishment ceremony.
Local prosecutors’ offices have established temporary command centers to provide technical support when investigating election cases, Tsai said, exhorting the task force to stop at nothing to prosecute any person seeking to sway an election through wealth or violence.
Photo: CNA
Law enforcement officers and the judiciary should also take note of new methods of payment, such as cryptocurrencies and mobile payment systems, which could replace traditional ways of paying bribes, he said.
The judiciary should closely monitor any abnormal payments to election candidates or their heelers via the ministry’s Financial Intelligence Unit, he added.
The judiciary must also pay attention to whether an election has been swayed by fake news and, in the instance of confirmed fake news, the judiciary must act swiftly to debunk the claims as soon as possible, Tsai said.
Talking about anti-bribery measures is still a useful ploy and adequate use of the Internet to disseminate the message would also help convince young people to call out any acts of vote-buying, Prosecutor General Hsing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) said.
The central government plans to create and distribute anti-bribery videos to local prosecutors’ offices, airports and railway stations, he said.
Anti-bribery efforts and measures to prevent coercion by force would continue as usual, but prosecutorial units would prioritize the prosecution of cases involving fake information, Hsing said.
He added that he would ask local prosecutors’ offices to task prosecutors with looking into cases of suspected foreign invention, while stepping up police sweeps of underground currency exchanges and betting pools.
Hsing also mentioned cryptocurrency, online game credits and other things with monetary value that could be used to bribe voters as something to look out for.
The judiciary would be looking very closely at whether the source of payments come from foreign sources and prosecute those involved for contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), Hsing said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS