The Hualien District Court on Thursday found Yuli Township (玉里) Mayor Kung Wen-chun (龔文俊) guilty of using food to bribe voters during his campaign in last year’s nine-in-one elections.
Kung, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) member, was found guilty of breaching provisions of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法). He was sentenced to five years in prison and deprived of his civil rights for six years.
The court also convicted Lin Cheng-kuang (林誠觀), a former borough warden in Yuli, of assisting Kung to buy votes, sentencing him to three years and six months in prison and depriving him of his civil rights for four years.
Photo: Hua Meng-ching, Taipei Times
In May last year, Kung and Lin attended an event in the Marulan community (麻汝蘭/福音部落) and met with local Amis leaders, an investigation found.
The pair presented about 80kg of pork to a deputy chief surnamed Liu (劉), who divided the meat and distributed it to friends and relatives in the community.
Telephone recordings revealed that Liu had told the community to vote for Kung, who had provided the pork as a gift, investigators said.
Moreover, in June and last month, Kung and Lin repeatedly called up a local Amis chief surnamed Chen (陳) of the Sedeng Community (瑟冷部落) in Yuli, offering to give 120kg of pork that the community could share during festivities in exchange for votes in November’s elections, investigators said.
Chen said he did not accept the offer, telling investigators that he did not want to get embroiled in illegal activities.
Aside from testifying in court, Chen provided cellphone communication records and social media Line messages to show how Kung and Lin had attempted to bribe him.
A court filing stated that Kung and Lin targeted Amis leaders who have influence over their community, and tried to bribe them with pork and pig heads — essential features in traditional feasts — to vote for Kung.
“Kung benefited [from these actions] and thus won the township mayoral election. The court hereby imposes a heavy punishment to stop bribery or people using money in exchange for votes during elections,” the filing said.
A recent amendment imposing stricter measures stipulates that people convicted of vote-buying in the first ruling must be stripped of their office.
Kung has been suspended from his job. The Hualien County Government said in a news release that it would appoint an official to serve as interim mayor of Yuli.
Kung said he was disappointed at the ruling and would consider filing an appeal after receiving the official notice of the ruling from the court.
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