The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office today searched the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taichung city chapter office and other locations and took away at least eight KMT staffers on suspicion of forged documents being used in recall campaigns.
Recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislators Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) and Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純), and KMT Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒), Liao Wei-hsiang (廖偉翔) and Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪) are suspected to have involved the use of signatures from deceased people, according to local media.
The Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office said in a press release today that they are investigating recall campaigns targeting the five legislators regarding allegations of violating the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and using forged signatures after receiving reports from the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
Eight locations, including residences, offices and local branches of a political party, have been searched today, with more than ten people, including suspects and witnesses, being questioned, prosecutors said.
KMT Taichung chapter director Yen Wen-cheng (顏文正) confirmed the search took place today and said the party is cooperating with the investigation.
Wu Kang-lung (伍康龍), Yang Ta-wei (楊大緯) and Chen Chien-feng (陳建鋒), secretary-generals representing the first, second and third KMT Taichung city party committees respectively, were taken away.
Five other staffers were taken away, Taiping District (太平) director Wang Chung-hui (王忠輝), deputy director Cheng Yi-chuan (程翌全), Fengyuan District (豐原) director Yu Chueh-an (余爵安), Tanya District (潭雅) director Chiu Shih-yi (邱仕誼) and Dali District (大里) director Hung Li-hsiang (洪麗香).
Volunteers of civil groups leading recall campaigns targeting the three KMT Legislators, Yen, Liao and Huang, were also reportedly summoned for questioning.
Regarding the campaign targeting Tsai, the number of forged signatures made up more than half of the total, he said.
Tsai called on the prosecutors’ office and the CEC to clarify and investigate the issue given how unreasonable the situation is, he said.
In the petition against Ho, there were 66 signatures from deceased people, she said, adding that she has faith in the judicial process’ ability to uncover the truth.
Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) did not comment on the matter when asked by media today, only saying “thank you.”
The recall conveners are inexperienced and so some flaws were expected, Yen said.
However, the signatures were collected in person, he added.
In an official statement, the KMT Taichung branch said that the judicial process should remain fact-based and impartial, calling on investigators to act fairly and avoid political persecution.
The party will continue to monitor the situation, safeguard justice and work with other like-minded people to defend the rule of law and civil rights.
DPP Taichung City Councilor Wang Li-jen (王立任) said that there should be an investigation if there are suspicions of fraud, expressing confidence that if the accused are innocent they would be cleared.
This is similar to KMT tactics in other alleged recall forgery cases in other counties, 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
PROBLEMATIC APP: Citing more than 1,000 fraud cases, the government is taking the app down for a year, but opposition voices are calling it censorship Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday decried a government plan to suspend access to Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (小紅書) for one year as censorship, while the Presidential Office backed the plan. The Ministry of the Interior on Thursday cited security risks and accusations that the Instagram-like app, known as Rednote in English, had figured in more than 1,700 fraud cases since last year. The company, which has about 3 million users in Taiwan, has not yet responded to requests for comment. “Many people online are already asking ‘How to climb over the firewall to access Xiaohongshu,’” Cheng posted on
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake yesterday struck off the coast of Hualien, causing brief transportation disruptions in northern and eastern Taiwan, as authorities said that aftershocks of magnitude 5 or higher could occur over the next three days. The quake, which hit at 7:24pm at a depth of 24.5km, registered an intensity of 4 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. In Taipei, the MRT railway’s operations control center received an earthquake alert and initiated standard safety procedures, briefly halting trains on the Bannan (blue) line for about a minute.
RSS