The Yilan District Court today approved a request by prosecutors to hold three Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) staffers incommunicado over alleged involvement in a recall petition fraud.
Prosecutors are reportedly investigating fraudulent petition signatures in a recall campaign against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇).
Prosecutors are reportedly investigating suspected document forgery and contraventions of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in the recall petition.
Photo: Wang Chun-chi, Taipei Times
Three former and current staffers of the KMT Yilan chapter, Yu Ling-chieh (俞凌傑), Chen Chien-feng (陳堅豐) and Li Tzu-hui (李姿慧), were ordered to be held incommunicado after the court decided that there is a risk that the defendants might flee or destroy evidence.
The three pleaded guilty in today’s detention hearing, admitting that they have forged documents.
Li said she did so under the instruction of the other two defendants, the court heard.
More than 200 documents were forged, with 46 signatures from deceased people, prosecutors said.
It is suspected that the petitions were signed by the same person, the court heard.
The three were among 13 people listed as defendants after 15 people were summoned for questioning.
Nine KMT staffers and members, including the recall campaign leader Lee Hui-ling (李惠玲), were released on bail ranging from NT$30,000 (US$923) to NT$200,000, while one KMT member was released without bail.
KMT Yilan County chapter director Lin Ming-chang (林明昌) returned to the country yesterday night and is not feeling well, sources said.
Lin could be summoned for questioning in the coming days, sources said.
It is suspected that the documents were forged under the instruction of high-ranking members, prosecutors said.
They said they would not rule out the option of conducting further investigation.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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