Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Central Standing Committee member Hsiao Ching-tien (蕭景田) on Thursday was charged with breaching the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) for allegedly buying votes on behalf of Taipei City Councilor Lin Hsing-er (林杏兒) in the local elections in November last year, the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said.
In a statement released the same day, the office said that 11 people — Hsiao, vote broker Tseng Fan-chuan (曾繁川) and borough wardens — were indicted on charges linked to accepting bribes or engaging in vote-buying during Lin’s campaign in the run-up to the Nov. 26 vote.
Prosecutors have confiscated NT$110,000 (US$3,608.92) that was allegedly used for bribes, the office said.
Photo: CNA
Lin, who denies any knowledge of the alleged vote-buying, has been designated a witness, it said.
One of the defendants, surnamed Chang (張), was granted deferred prosecution after admitting wrongdoing and returning money he received, it added.
Hsiao and Tseng bought votes for Lin, who ran for city councilor in Taipei’s first electoral district, which comprises Shilin (士林) and Beitou (北投) districts, the indictment read.
On Nov. 22 last year, Hsiao and Tseng were driven by a volunteer worker from Lin’s campaign office to visit several local candidates as part of a plan devised by Hsiao, who handed them envelopes each containing NT$10,000 and campaign leaflets in exchange for their support, it said.
Prosecutors searched the offices and residences of Hsiao and Tseng in December last year after receiving a tip-off.
Although both denied having engaged in vote-buying, envelopes containing cash, recordings of conversations between Tseng and other defendants, and video footage showing the movement of personnel and vehicles at the offices of several candidates were seized, leading prosecutors to believe that bribes were paid, it said.
Hsiao fled his residence in Changhua County in late December last year.
The 69-year-old voluntarily reported to the Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office on Jan. 3, five days after the office issued a warrant for his arrest.
Prosecutors twice asked that Hsiao be detained and held incommunicado, but the High Court rejected the requests and upheld a Shilin District Court order to release Hsiao, first on NT$8 million bail and later on NT$15 million bail, arguing that he was neither a flight risk nor capable of destroying, forging or colluding with others to tamper with evidence.
Meanwhile, the Shilin District Court is still hearing a suit filed by prosecutors on Dec. 30 last year to overturn Lin’s election victory due to the allegations.
Lin, who took office on Dec. 25, on Thursday said that she respects the judiciary and believes her name will be cleared.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS