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.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
RSS