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.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
RSS