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.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,