Tainan Council Speaker Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉), Deputy Speaker Lin Chih-chan (林志展) and three other city councilors were acquitted of charges of vote-buying by the Tainan District Court yesterday in a trial that opened in 2022.
Chiu and Lin, both of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), along with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) city councilors Lee Wen-chun (李文俊) and Lee Chen-kuo (李鎮國), and independent city councilor Huang Li-chao (黃麗招), were among the 10 people charged with breaching Article 100 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) for bribery, and contravening Article 142 of the Criminal Code for acts of coercion.
Following the ruling, Chiu said that she is thankful for the acquittal “to restore my good name.”
Photo: Tsai Wen-chu, Taipei Times
Lin said he respects the court’s ruling.
Five other people involved in the case, indicted by prosecutors in March last year, were also acquitted yesterday. They are Yuan Shan International Development Co (圓山國際開發) chairman Yang Chih-chiang (楊志強), former DPP Central Executive Committee member Kuo Tsai-chin (郭再欽), Tainan City Fishermen Association chairman Lin Shih-chieh (林士傑), Huang Yi-ping (黃怡萍), who is a city government employee and cousin of Councilor Lee Wen-chun, and Kao Mei-hsien (高玫仙), wife of Councilor Lee Chen-kuo.
The case stemmed from the Tainan Council speaker elections that took place on Dec. 25, 2022, following the nine-in-one elections the previous month.
Prosecutors had argued that Lin and Kuo met frequently with Chiu between Oct. 24 that year and the speaker election, to provide Chiu with information to help her win the vote by paying bribes and coercing the voting of other councilors.
It was reported that prosecutors wiretapped phone conversations, overhearing the trio talking about working together “to stop the black face,” then-speaker Kuo Hsin-liang (郭信良), from winning the speaker position again, and “having obtained financial support of about NT$100 million,” (US$3.07 million) allegedly to buy votes, which they spoke of only needing to win over two to three councilors of other parties, to take the speaker position.
In the speaker election Chiu won 36 to 21 votes, defeating Kuo, a former DPP councilor, whom in 2018 won the speakership through soliciting support from KMT and independent members.
The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office said it would decide whether to appeal the ruling after receiving the official verdict.
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