The Keelung District Court yesterday approved a request by prosecutors to detain Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), a former director of the Keelung Department of Civil Affairs, in connection with an investigation into alleged misuse of personal data in a recall campaign.
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office has accused Chang of illegally accessing the household registration system to help revise and verify a list of members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in Keelung.
The data were used to remove the names of deceased party members and update addresses to assist the effort to gather signatures in a bid to recall Democratic Progressive Party city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Tiun (張之豪), prosecutors said.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
Chang had previously been released on NT$400,000 bail late last month, but was summoned for questioning on Monday after prosecutors reviewed new material regarding the case.
He was unable to provide clear explanations regarding the new material, and continued to downplay the nature and structure of the alleged offenses, a source familiar with the matter said.
Prosecutors submitted a detention request to the Keelung District Court at about 3am yesterday, citing a high risk that Chang could collude with others or destroy evidence unless he was held incommunicado.
The court approved the request at about midday, prosecutors said.
The case also involves Hsieh Wei-jen (謝偉仁), an adviser to the Keelung City Government, who was questioned and released on NT$150,000 bail yesterday, prosecutors said.
The investigation in Keelung is one of several across Taiwan, with campaign organizers accused of forging signatures on petitions to trigger public recall votes on both sides of the political aisle.
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