The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Yilan chapter was searched today and at least three people were brought in for questioning over recall fraud allegations, local media reported.
The prosecutors are investigating fraudulent petition signatures in a recall campaign against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇), people familiar with the matter said.
More than 40 signatures were from deceased people and more than 10 signatures were forged, sources said.
Photo courtesy of a reader
The case is to be transferred to the Yilan District Prosecutors’ Office today for further investigation into suspected document forgery and contraventions of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法).
Prosecutors this morning searched the KMT’s Yilan chapter office and the residence of the recall campaign leader, Lee Hui-ling (李惠玲), who was then brought in for questioning.
Prosecutors took away a box of documents and brought in two other staffers, surnamed Lee (李) and Wang (汪), for questioning at about 12:30pm today.
Others involved in the recall campaign were also summoned for questioning and their residences were also searched.
KMT Yilan chapter director Lin Ming-chang (林明昌) was not summoned for questioning.
KMT Yilan County Councilor Joy Huang (黃琤婷) slammed the actions as not being an investigation, but suppression, and not democratic, but political persecution.
Judicial interference and political intimidation are worrying, she said.
People are entitled to recall politicians by the Constitution, which is the foundation of democracy, she said.
Chen said in a news release that he respects the public’s right to recall politicians and is willing to communicate with Yilan residents.
However, forging and using signatures from deceased people are not the exercising of civil rights, but trampling on the democratic system, he said.
Manipulating public opinion and creating confrontation with illegal means are not acceptable, he said.
The judiciary would carry out justice, he added.
A small number of Taiwanese this year lost their citizenship rights after traveling in China and obtaining a one-time Chinese passport to cross the border into Russia, a source said today. The people signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of neighboring Russia with companies claiming they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, the source said on condition of anonymity. The travelers were actually issued one-time-use Chinese passports, they said. Taiwanese are prohibited from holding a Chinese passport or household registration. If found to have a Chinese ID, they may lose their resident status under Article 9-1
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
RSS