A folk ritual event sponsored by CPC Corp, Taiwan, in Hualien County in December was used as a campaign event for a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative candidate, which could constitute a violation of election law, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator said yesterday, vowing to file a lawsuit.
State-owned CPC provided NT$200,000 to sponsor a religious ceremony organized by Cheng An Temple in Sincheng Township (新城), Hualien County, on Dec. 15, but the ceremony was used to campaign for KMT candidate Timothy Wang (王廷升) and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a press conference in Taipei.
The sponsorship amount actually exceeded the company’s internal regulations on sponsorship, which limits local folk event sponsorships to a maximum of NT$30,000, Hsiao said, adding that the ceremony became a campaigning event for a specific party and candidate — another violation of corporate regulations.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Wang defeated DPP candidate Lie Kuen-cheng (賴坤成), while Ma was re-elected in the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
Vote buying in Hualien County has been notoriously rampant for a long time, said Lie, who has also filed a complaint with the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office against several borough chiefs for vote buying for Wang.
Lie said he had reported the Cheng An Temple case to the Hualien District Prosecutors’ Office before the election, but the office had yet to open an investigation.
Lie said he would file a lawsuit in a bid to invalidate Wang’s victory.
The DPP candidate had previously said he was confident Wang’s win would be voided and that there would be a by-election required in Hualien because he had concrete evidence of vote buying and illegal campaign acts.
Speaking at the same press conference, Julius Chen (陳容), CPC’s director of industrial relations, said the company always offered greater sponsorship amounts for events in Sincheng Township, where one of the company’s large oil depots is located.
The company had provided NT$200,000 for the event instead of NT$30,000 because the ceremony was changed from a one-day ceremony to a three-day event, Chen said.
Prosecutor Hong San-feng (洪三峰) denied any suggestions that the local prosecutors were ignoring the case, saying investigations into possible vote buying were usually harder than people imagined because of the difficulties involved in gathering evidence.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and