Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator-elect Lee Yi-ting (李乙廷) yesterday became the first legislator-elect to be indicted on vote-buying charges since the legislative elections.
Miaoli prosecutors yesterday indicted Lee and two of his campaign staffers, asking the Miaoli District Court to sentence the trio to two years in jail and impose a fine of NT$2 million (US$62,000) each.
Ministry of Justice officials said that, with the evidence they had collected, several other legislators-elect would be indicted soon.
Prosecutors suspect Lee -- who won in Miaoli County's first district -- and the two campaign workers of having made 16 donations to several temples in the Miaoli area to secure the votes of the temples' managers and devotees.
Prosecutors said Lee and his campaigners made the donations between June and October last year, and that Lee visited the temples to ask voters for their support.
Although Lee said he made the donations out of religious conviction, he had never donated money to any temple prior to his campaign, prosecutors said.
They said that the donations should be considered an act of vote-buying in terms of the Election and Recall Law of Civil Servants (
Although Lee has been indicted, he will still be able to assume his legislative seat on Feb. 1. Prosecutors said they would file a civil lawsuit with the district court seeking to annul Lee's election win.
The KMT said Lee would be suspended if he is found guilty.
Lee yesterday maintained his innocence. He said it was normal for legislative candidates to go to "crowded places" to seek public support.
Asking voters to support him and buying votes were "totally different things," Lee said, adding that he had never been to most of the places prosecutors said he had visited.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS