The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday questioned 14 New Taipei City borough wardens and other residents for allegedly taking a Beijing-funded trip in exchange for supporting political candidates favored by China in next month’s elections.
A New Taipei City borough warden surnamed Hsu (許) and a businesswoman surnamed Chen (陳) were questioned about alleged contraventions of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) and the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), the office said.
They were each released on bail of NT$500,00, it said.
Photo: Wang Ting-chuan, Taipei Times
The duo is accused of arranging a free trip for wardens from Nov. 21 to 24 in China’s Jiangsu Province at the behest of local Taiwan affairs officials, it said.
The scheme targeted wardens in New Taipei City’s Tucheng (土城), Jhonghe (中和), Yonghe (永和), Banciao (板橋) and Shulin (樹林) districts, the office said, adding that they were either Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members or political independents.
About 10 wardens and the same number of their friends and family went on the trip, with the former paying nothing and the latter paying only for airplane tickets, it said.
Hsu, Chen and Chinese officials told members of the tour group during banquets which political party they should support, the office said.
The other wardens were questioned about taking a bribe for their vote and allegedly breaching the Criminal Code. They were released with travel restrictions, except for a warden surnamed Chu (朱), who was released on NT$30,000 bail, the office said.
Meanwhile, the Keelung District Court yesterday approved the pretrial detention of Wu Shih-chin (吳石金), a Keelung borough warden, the first warden to be held in pretrial detention in connection with China’s alleged trips-for-votes scheme.
Wu faces indictments on charges related to breaching the Anti-Infiltration Act and election laws.
Yesterday’s hearing was the third time the issue of Wu’s detention was heard at the court, after its previous decisions were overturned.
The latest ruling represented a reversal from the court’s second ruling to release Wu on NT$50,000 bail.
Wu had been to China six times and deleted the chat history on his smartphone, showing that he would present a flight risk and there was the danger of evidence tampering were he to be released, the presiding judge said.
The warden of Siaogang Borough (孝岡) in Keelung’s Sinyi District (信義), Wu is accused of leading 12 wardens and 11 other people on a Beijing-funded tour of China’s Shandong Province from Nov. 21 to 26, the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Members of the tour group paid a token fee of NT$5,500 and each received 1,000 yuan (US$141) in cash upon their arrival, the office said, adding that Chinese officials urged them to vote for the KMT throughout the trip.
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