The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is feigning ignorance of its members’ wrongdoing by demanding an investigation into the judiciary over allegations of signature fraud in its campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said yesterday.
“KMT officials have accused the judiciary of unfairly targeting the party so as to shift the focus away from signature forgery cases in its recall petition drive. The KMT is trying to mislead the public and framing it as the ruling party’s political manipulation of the judiciary,” Chuang said.
Preliminary investigations by judicial authorities have found many cases of alleged forgery, signature fraud, and instances of one individual signing for many people in the KMT’s effort to recall DPP legislators, Chuang said when questioning Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙).
Photo: Taipei Times
“KMT members are being lazy. Instead of doing real work out on the street asking people to sign the recall petition, they copied names from lists of party members, which even include members who are deceased,” he said.
“KMT leaders should take responsibility for the forgeries and other breaches of the law in the recall drive, but they instead demand that President William Lai (賴清德) step down over the judicial investigation into these cases. They are talking like deranged people, as it was not Lai who instructed KMT members to commit fraud and forge signatures,” Chuang said.
Separately, Taiwan Forever Society director Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) also called out the hypocrisy of KMT leaders in calling for supporters to attend a rally on Saturday to protest against the DPP government, which the KMT has even titled: “Oppose Green Communists, Fight Dictatorship.”
“KMT officials are insulting everyone by saying Taiwan is now a dictatorship, but the rest of the world knows that the true dictatorship is in China. The KMT dare not criticize China and it is afraid of urging people to fight Chinese dictatorship,” Huang said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,