The Keelung District Prosecutors' Office today indicted seven people over the alleged forgery of recall petitions targeting city councilors from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Keelung branch chairman Wu Kuo-sheng (吳國勝) is accused of ordering local party officials to forge 1,063 petition signatures in the campaigns targeting DPP city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said.
Wu allegedly also instructed Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔) to use the Keelung City Government’s household registration system to help with the forgeries, contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法), prosecutors said.
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
The seven indicted are: Wu, Chang, Renai District (仁愛) KMT committee director Chang Chin-fa (張金發), recall campaign leaders Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃) and Yu Cheng-yi (游正義), Jhongjheng District (中正) Household Registration Office Director Chiang Chien-yu (江鑒育) and Anle District (安樂) Household Registration Office Director Lin Fen-yun (林芬芸).
Eight other people confessed to their crimes and are facing suspended sentences and fines of NT$50,000 to NT$180,000, prosecutors said.
Due to a lack of evidence, Hsu Shao-yeh (許紹業), one of the recall campaign leaders, former KMT Keelung chapter deputy secretary Han Chi-yuan (韓元吉) and Keelung City Government advisor Hsieh Wei-jen (謝偉仁) were not charged, prosecutors said.
The scheme began when Wu realized that their recall campaigns might not have enough signatures and instructed Chang Chin-fa to find volunteers to forge the remaining ones, prosecutors said.
Wu had Chang Yuan-hsiang use the city’s household registration system to identify people who had changed households, prosecutors said, adding that they instructed Chiang and Lin Hsin-hong to assist in those efforts.
Prosecutors said they would be seeking heavier sentences for some people, including Chang Chin-fa and Chi, as they had given vague statements.
This afternoon, Wu, Yu, Chang Chin-fa and Chang Yuan-hsiang were transferred to the Keelung District Court where a hearing was to be held at 6pm to decide whether their detention would be extended.
The Keelung City Government today said it respects the results of the investigation.
The city government would act in accordance with the law and would not tolerate the abuse of personal information, it said, adding that reforms would be implemented and those involved in the case have left the government.
The city's Department of Civil Affairs and Civil Service Ethics Office have completed an inter-departmental review, the city government said.
The issue of whether to add a section for “reason of inquiry” in the household registration system would be discussed, it said.
The city government has implemented systematic internal adjustments and training, it said, adding that it would perform gatekeeping stringently to improve the protection of personal information and ensure administrative neutrality.
Additional reporting by CNA, Yu Chao-fu and Fion Khan
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