Five people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), including senior staff from the party’s Taipei branch, were indicted yesterday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.
Those indicted include KMT Taipei chapter director Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), secretary-general Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文), the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said in a news release.
Prosecutors said the three were responsible for fabricating 5,211 signature forms — 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 for DPP Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) — with forged entries accounting for 96 percent and 94 percent of the forms, respectively.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The office has requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants’ role in “undermining the country’s democratic foundations.”
Prosecutors also indicted Lai Yi-jen (賴苡任), identified as the organizer of the recall campaign targeting Rosalia Wu, and Chen Kuei-hsun (陳奎勳), an executive at the KMT’s fourth district office in Taipei.
In addition, 15 other KMT staffers and volunteers admitted their involvement and were granted deferred prosecution. They include Man Chih-kang (滿志剛), Liu Ssu-yin (劉思吟), Lin Jui (林叡) and Yeh Li-chin (葉麗琴), prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, prosecutors declined to indict several others, including KMT Taipei City Councilor Chang Szu-kang (張斯綱) and recall campaigners Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Chang Ko-chin (張克晉).
The investigation began on April 14 after reports that recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) and Wu Pei-yi had submitted forged proposer forms, prosecutors said.
Shortly afterward, Huang, Chu and Yao were detained and held incommunicado, they said.
The office said the trio “fabricated large volumes of name lists in a short period to advance political aims,” rather than lawfully collecting signatures.
Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of recall vote campaigns, with supporters of the DPP and KMT seeking to unseat lawmakers from the opposite side of the political aisle.
The indictments in Taipei are part of several judicial actions under way across the country, with KMT members and affiliated advocates also facing allegations of recall vote campaign irregularities in New Taipei City, Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and other municipalities.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS