The High Court’s Kaohsiung Branch reduced the sentence handed to Pingtung County Council Speaker Chou Tien-lun (周典論) to three years and two months in prison over buying signatures for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) attempted presidential bid.
In the first ruling, the Pingtung District Court sentenced Chou to four years in prison for contravening the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選罷法).
On appeal, the High Court’s Kaohsiung Branch today shortened that sentence to three years and two months in prison, an NT$1.5 million (US$46,169) fine and disenfranchisement for five years.
Photo: Yeh Yung-chien, Taipei Times
The ruling may be appealed.
To help Gou’s petition campaign reach the necessary threshold to run as a candidate in last year’s presidential election, Chou paid Chaojhou Township (潮州) Mayor Chou Pin-chuan (周品全) NT$1.5 million on Sept. 1, 2023, and NT$3.5 million on Sept. 18, 2023, to buy signatures, the Pingtung District Prosecutors’ Office said.
The plan was to recruit people to support Gou’s candidacy for NT$500 per signature, prosecutors said.
To get his name on the ballot, Gou needed to collect 289,667 valid signatures nationwide.
Chou Pin-chuan then gave NT$4.5 million of the NT$5 million to Chen Liang-yuan (陳亮源), an employee of the Chaojhou Township Office, and others to recruit people to sign the petition, prosecutors said.
Chou Pin-chuan, Chen and others received deferred prosecution.
During the investigation, Chou Tien-lun was detained for nearly seven months due to potential risk of collusion with defendants before being released on NT$500,000 bail.
On Aug. 27 last year, the Pingtung District Court sentenced him to four years in prison, an NT$5 million fine and disenfranchisement for six years.
Chou Tien-lun and prosecutors appealed the sentence.
Chou Tien-lun said the money he gave to Chou Pin-chuan was meant for operational expenses and not as payment for petitioners, denying that he contravened election law.
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