Ten people affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) were given suspended sentences of 10 to 22 months by the Chiayi District Court on Friday for forging signatures in a drive to recall a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker.
Those sentenced include KMT Chiayi County branch
secretary-general Yang Fu-cheng (楊富程), who received a 22-month jail term suspended for five years, and the branch’s deputy chief, Kuo Shu-chiang (國恕強), who was given a 16-month sentence suspended for four years.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
The court ordered Yang and Kuo to pay NT$600,000 and NT$400,000 respectively to the public treasury.
The others — Lai Chu-huang (賴珠煌), Lee Chun-chang (李俊昌), Chuang Mei-ling (莊美玲), Wang Li-chuan (王?娟), Wu Tzu-yin (吳紫茵), Ho Po-lun (何博倫), Chiang Chiu-tien (江秋田) and Lin Cheng-lu (林正祿) — received suspended sentences of 10 to 20 months.
Some were ordered to pay fines to the public treasury and perform community service.
The court said all 10 people sentenced, including Yang, had no prior criminal records and had admitted to the offenses.
They were aware of the consequences of their actions and seem unlikely to commit further offenses, the court said.
Prosecutors raided the KMT’s Chiayi County branch on June 5 investigating allegations of faking signatures to recall DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷).
To get a recall initiative to a popular vote, those initiating the campaign need to gather a certain number of signatures from the general public to move it forward.
Workers and volunteers at the KMT Chiayi County branch took it into their own hands to create the needed signatures, prosecutors said.
The party branch held a meeting of core members on Jan. 24 and distributed about 300 blank recall petitions for them to fill out so that they could meet the required threshold of 2,204 signatures, prosecutors said in the indictment.
Between Feb. 3 and 8, the suspects asked friends to fill out petitions using the personal details of KMT members without their consent, forging signatures to push the total to 2,639, prosecutors said.
Among the petitions, 39 were in the name of dead people, and 511 contained incorrect names, addresses or ID numbers, they said.
The KMT unsuccessfully tried to mount recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers after civic groups pushed for recalls of KMT legislators, getting 31 of them to a popular vote.
All of the KMT lawmakers survived their recall votes.
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
The Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau audited six hotels in an effort to prevent price gouging ahead of Korean band BTS’ concert tour in the city scheduled for Nov. 19, 21 and 22 this year. The bureau on Friday said that the audits — conducted in response to allegations of unfair pricing posted on social media — found no wrongdoing. These establishments included the local branches of Chateau de Chine, Hotel Nikko, My Humble House, and Grand Hai Lai, it said, adding that the Consumer Protection Commission would have penalized price gougers had the accusations been substantiated. The bureau said the Tourism Development Act
BACK TO WINTER: A strong continental cold air mass would move south on Tuesday next week, bringing colder temperatures to northern and central Taiwan A tropical depression east of the Philippines could soon be upgraded to be the first tropical storm of this year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the next cold air mass is forecast to arrive on Monday next week. CWA forecaster Cheng Jie-ren (鄭傑仁) said the first tropical depression of this year is over waters east of the Philippines, about 1,867km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), and could strengthen into Tropical Storm Nokaen by early today. The system is moving slowly from northwest to north, and is expected to remain east of the Philippines with little chance of affecting Taiwan,
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
RSS