Judicial authorities searched the offices of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local chapters in New Taipei City, and listed 10 party executives and staff as suspects in their probes into fraud and forgery relating to petition campaigns to recall four Democratic Progressive Party legislators.
After being questioned by prosecutors, six KMT executives and staff were yesterday released on bail of NT$50,000 to NT$100,000, while the rest were freed without bail.
Law enforcement authorities on Thursday searched 16 locations, including KMT chapters in the city’s Shulin (樹林), Tucheng (土城) and Sansia (三峽) districts, summoning office directors and secretarial staff for questioning.
Photo: CNA
New Taipei City prosecutors in a news release said the investigations found evidence of fraud and forgery, including mass copying of names of people from KMT member lists without the consent of the owners and forged signatures on petitions that appear to have been written by a handful of people, in contravention of rules governing recalls and personal privacy.
New Taipei City KMT executives allegedly instructed staff and volunteers to go to party offices during the Lunar New Year holiday in February to copy names from KMT member lists, with each person receiving a “red envelope” containing NT$1,000, the release said.
Prosecutors last month also searched KMT chapters in the city’s Banciao (板橋) and Sanchong (三重) districts, and have detained KMT Banciao official Chen Cheng-jung (陳貞容) since April 29.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, Yilan County prosecutors investigating similar allegations on Thursday listed 19 KMT members as suspects, with three being placed in detention, while the head of the KMT chapter in Yilan County, Lin Ming-chang (林明昌), was released on NT$800,000 bail.
In other developments, civic groups yesterday submitted to the local election commission in Keelung 37,533 petitions to recall KMT Legislator Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥). The total number of signatures collected was 23 percent higher than the minimum required for the second-phase threshold.
Chen Ching-yi (陳青逸), head of the campaign to recall Lin, said the lawmaker had done nothing in the legislature but follow the instructions of KMT leaders to the detriment of the public, and had denigrated people by branding all recall campaign volunteers as attention-seeking “marginalized people.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans- Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), whose latest meeting, concluded earlier the same day, appeared not to address the country’s application. In a statement, MOFA said the CPTPP commission had "once again failed to fairly process Taiwan’s application," attributing the inaction to the bloc’s "succumbing to political pressure," without elaborating. Taiwan submitted its CPTPP application under the name "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu" on Sept. 22, 2021 -- less than a week after China
THE GOOD WORD: More than 100 colleges on both sides of the Pacific will work together to bring students to Taiwan so they can learn Mandarin where it is spoken A total of 102 universities from Taiwan and the US are collaborating in a push to promote Taiwan as the first-choice place to learn Mandarin, with seven Mandarin learning centers stood up in the US to train and support teachers, the Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan (FICHET) said. At the annual convention of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages held over the weekend in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Taiwan Pavilion was jointly run by 17 representative teams from the FICHET, the Overseas Community Affairs Council, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu, the
A home-style restaurant opened by a Taiwanese woman in Quezon City in Metro Manila has been featured in the first-ever Michelin Guide honoring exceptional restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant, Fong Wei Wu (豐味屋), was one of 74 eateries to receive a “Michelin Selected” honor in the guide, while one restaurant received two Michelin stars, eight received one star and 25 were awarded a “Bib Gourmand.” The guide, which was limited to restaurants in Metro Manila and Cebu, was published on Oct. 30. In an interview, Feng Wei Wu’s owner and chef, Linda, said that as a restaurateur in her 60s, receiving an
MORE RETALIATION: China would adopt a long-term pressure strategy to prevent other countries or future prime ministers following in Sanae Takaichi’s steps, an academic said Taiwan should maintain communications with Japan, as Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is to lead a revision of security documents, Taiwanese academics said yesterday. Tensions have risen between Japan and China over remarks by Takaichi earlier this month that the use of force against Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. Prospect Foundation president Lai I-chung (賴怡忠) yesterday said Takaichi’s stance regarding Taiwan is the same as past Japanese prime ministers, but her position is clearer than that of her predecessors Fumio Kishida and Shigeru Ishiba. Although Japan views a “Taiwan contingency” as a “survival-threatening situation,” which would allow its military to
RSS