The Taipei Prosecutors’ Office today said a suspect’s residence in Hualien County was searched this morning over allegations that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) provided a fellow KMT member running in a legislative election with campaign gifts last year.
Fu has been accused of providing his party’s candidates with campaign gifts through a company called Shan Tian Xia (戰天下), which has a registered address in Hualien, before the legislative elections last year.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) previously said he had received 10,000 campaign gifts from Fu, but later said they were paid for by his friend.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Prosecutors directed the Investigation Bureau’s Taipei division to search the offices of Shan Tian Xia, the residences of a man surnamed Su (蘇), the person in charge of the company, and the defendant, surnamed Lee (李), in Hualien and Taichung last month, on Tuesday and this morning respectively.
The searches came after political commentator Wen Lan-tung (溫朗東) last month accused Fu and Su of contravening the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法), the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and forging documents.
Prosecutors said Fu’s residence and office were not searched and no defendants have yet been questioned.
Fu strongly condemned the search in a statement today, urging President William Lai (賴清德) to stop “persecuting” the opposition.
Prosecutors have closed cases regarding accusations made by the Democratic Progressive Party’s candidates about KMT candidates buying campaign gifts, the statement said.
It was legal and unrelated to foreign capital, yet Taipei prosecutors searched staff quarters in Hualien, despite prosecutors in other districts having concluded the case, it said.
The statement also accused prosecutors of leaking information to certain media outlets in breach of the principle of non-disclosure.
Not a single one of the campaign gifts contravenes the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Fu told reporters at the Legislative Yuan.
Asked whether Chung’s comments led to the situation, Fu left without responding.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
RSS