The Keelung District Court late last night granted bail for a city government official accused of using public household registration rolls to aid a recall effort against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors.
At nearly midnight, the court released Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔) on bail of NT$400,000.
Two other suspects in the case — recall campaign leader Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃) and Renai District (仁愛) Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) committee director Chang Chin-fa (張金發) — were ordered held incommunicado.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
The court said that it was unnecessary to detain Chang as he had admitted guilt during questioning, despite there being concerns of collusion and tampering with witnesses.
However, he is restricted to his residence and is barred from having contact with other suspects or witnesses in the case, the court said.
Chang is suspected of accessing the household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting DPP city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪).
The court ordered Chi and Chang Chin-fa detained, as they are accused of the “serious crimes” of illegally using personal data in contravention of the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and forging private documents.
Prosecutors also found conversation records from a chat group in which Chi removed the original members and advised people to leave the group after a member shared a news article about the KMT headquarters in Tainan being searched in relation to another recall petition forgery investigation, the court said.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) today said that if South Korea does not reply appropriately to its request to correct Taiwan’s name on its e-Arrival card system before March 31, it would take corresponding measures to alter how South Korea is labeled on the online Taiwan Arrival Card system. South Korea’s e-Arrival card system lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan)” in the “point of departure” and “next destination” fields. The ministry said that it changed the nationality for South Koreans on Taiwan’s Alien Resident Certificates from “Korea” to “South Korea” on March 1, in a gesture of goodwill and based on the
RSS