Pingtung County prosecutors yesterday night requested permission to detain the leader of a recall campaign against a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker after bringing him in for questioning over allegations of signature fraud, while two defendants were released on bail.
The three were among 11 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members and staff summoned for questioning after a local KMT office was searched yesterday regarding allegations of signature fraud in a campaign to recall Saidhai Tahovecahe, an indigenous DPP lawmaker.
Among the 11 summoned for questioning were Hsiao Jung-ming (蕭榮明), chief secretary of the local KMT office, and Chang Fang-shuo (張芳碩), an aide of KMT Legislator Lu Hsien-yi (盧縣一), also known by his Rukai name Sasuyu Ruljuwan.
Photo: CNA
Chang, the recall campaign leader, was suspected of contravening the Criminal Code, the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) by forging documents, illegally processing personal data of other people and forging petitions without consent.
Prosecutors believed there is a risk that he might collude with others in testimony and tamper with evidence, requesting permission to detain him.
A detention hearing is expected to be held today.
Two defendants, surnamed Kao (高) and Lien (連), were released on NT$100,000 bail each and were restricted from leaving the country, while eight others, including Hsiao, were released without bail.
Prosecutors said the case is to be “cautiously” handled based on the principle of impartiality as it involves the public interest and has attracted a lot of attention.
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