Kaohsiung District Court yesterday convicted the first of 40 people embroiled in a vote-buying scandal during the election of the Kaohsiung City Council speaker Chu An-hsiung (朱安雄) last year.
Councilor Chang Wen-hsiu (
The other three convicted yesterday were all city councilors.
Lin Shou-shan (
While the ruling prevents all five from running for election, it does not affect their positions in the city council and Legislative Yuan. They may appeal up to the level of High Court.
Kaohsiung District Court Judge Lin Shui-cheng (
Except for Lin Ching-hsing, who was overseas, the other four councilors said they would decide whether to appeal when they receive notification of the ruling.
Lin Ching-hsing and his former wife, who were both DPP members at the time, were taped by Kaohsiung City Government cameras accepting NT$5 million from Chu. They were both expelled by the DPP.
According to the ruling, since these two denied the charges and behaved badly in court, their sentences were not suspended. The NT$5 million in bribe money was confiscated.
Lin Shou-shan and Yang were both former PFP members who were also expelled by the party after the scandal was exposed.
According to the ruling, Lin Shou-shan received NT$2 million and Yang NT$5 million for their votes. The money was confiscated in both cases.
Lin Kun-shan was a DPP member at the time of the election and received a bribe of NT$5 million. He returned the money, minus NT$200,000 he had spent, to Chu when the scandal was exposed. Lin was expelled by the DPP later and was fined the amount he had spent.
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