The head of an immigrant association and four other people have been indicted for suspected breaches of election law and the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), the Ciaotou District Prosecutors’ Office in Kaohsiung said on Thursday.
The five suspects were indicted on Monday for alleged contraventions of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選罷法), the Anti-Infiltration Act and the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法), prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspects include a woman surnamed Chou (周), who heads a new immigrant association in Taiwan, and a man surnamed Hsu (徐), an honorary chairman of a party that is known to strongly advocate for Taiwan’s unification with China, they said.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
In November last year, they were involved in organizing a trip to China’s Hunan Province for 60 people from Taitung County and Kaohsiung, who were given free accommodation and transportation as a bribe to vote for a particular presidential candidate, prosecutors said.
Hsu allegedly took orders from forces in China to produce fake public opinion polls ahead of the presidential and legislative elections in January, the office said.
Hsu was suspected of manufacturing fake polls in collaboration with his son, Chou, and a woman surnamed Wang (王), all among the suspects indicted, prosecutors said.
The fake poll results were intended to tip the scales in favor of a particular presidential candidate in the elections and were published in August and September last year by some media outlets including the Economic Daily News, the United Daily News and PChome Online, they said.
Forces in China are believed to have wired money directly to Hsu’s son and Wang, they said.
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