The Taiwan Keelung District Court yesterday night ordered that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Keelung branch chairman Wu Kuo-sheng (吳國勝) be detained and held incommunicado, while two staffers were released on bail this morning after questioning.
After questioning Wu, the court determined he was strongly suspected of misusing personal data and committing forgery.
The court said Wu posed a risk of collusion and evidence destruction, noting that accomplices identified him as the main offender and he had deliberately used communication apps that made evidence collection difficult. It therefore granted the prosecution's request for detention.
Photo: CNA
During questioning, Wu admitted to taking part in recall efforts against ruling Democratic Progressive Party city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Tiun (張之豪) of Keelung's Ren'ai and Anle districts.
Although Wu denied the charges brought by prosecutors, his statements were contradictory and failed to reasonably explain the irregularities in the recall petitions, the court said.
Prosecutors yesterday also questioned two KMT staffers, surnamed Cheng (鄭) and Li (李), after requesting permission to detain Wu.
Cheng and Li, suspected of document forgery, were released on NT$50,000 and NT$150,000 bail respectively this morning.
Prosecutors raided the KMT Keelung branch yesterday, taking Wu and the branch's deputy secretary, Han Chi-yuan (韓吉元), in for questioning. Han was later released on NT$100,000 bail.
Prosecutors cross-examined conversations in a WeChat group with the defendants' statements to determine whether Wu was aware of the forgeries.
The group included Wu, Han and Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), former director of the Keelung City government's Department of Civil Affairs, who was detained Tuesday on the same charges.
Before yesterday’s raid, the KMT branch office was searched on April 28, and Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃) and Yu Cheng-yi (游正義), the chief petitioners in the recall campaign against Cheng and Tiun, were brought in for investigation.
Cheng was later released on NT$150,000 bail, and Chi was detained and held incommunicado.
Meanwhile, KMT Tainan chapter deputy director Chuang Chan-kuei (莊占魁), who was prosecuted in another recall fraud case, was released on NT$200,000 bail yesterday night after admitting wrongdoing in a trial at the Tainan District Court.
Eleven individuals linked to the KMT, including Chuang, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging names on recall vote petitions targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) and Wang Ting-yu (王定宇).
The suspects were charged with forgery offenses under Articles 210 and 216 of Taiwan's Criminal Code, and for the illegal use of personal information under Article 41 of the Personal Data Protection Act.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-tung and Fion Khan
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