China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) Deputy Chairman Lee Tsung-kuei (李宗奎) on Monday was handed a suspended two-year sentence for breaching election laws by paying for signatures to support the presidential bid of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) last year.
The Taipei District Court handed Lee a suspended two-year term and five years of probation, fined him NT$6 million (US$186,168), with an additional NT$3 million to be paid to the state treasury, and deprived him of his civil rights for four years.
Prosecutors said that in 2023, Lee offered NT$300 per signature during a petition drive to get Gou on the ballot — with about 1,000 people paid — and that he spent about NT$1.6 million in total, including operating expenses.
Photo: Liu Ching-ho, Taipei Times
Lee was convicted on charges that he contravened the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), which in Article 87 stipulates that “inducing a signer of a joint-signature petition to sign or not sign for a certain prospective candidate through bribery” is punishable by a prison term of one to seven years and a fine of up to NT$10 million.
In October 2023, Taipei-based businessman Chen Chung-ming (陳仲明) asked Lee to organize a petition drive to back Gou’s bid to launch a presidential campaign for the election in January last year, prosecutors said.
Lee instructed employees at his company, including an accountant and a driver, to ask people to sign the petition, paying NT$300 per person, a court filing showed.
Seven others were convicted as accomplices in the case on bribery charges. They also received suspended sentences, which can be appealed.
The suspects were given suspended sentences because they admitted guilt during the investigation, the court said.
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