Suspects in an investigation into accounting firms and companies linked to the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) were released on bail early this morning, a day after questioning over allegations of fraud in campaign finance reporting.
Tuanmu Cheng (端木正), an accountant at Jing Hua CPA (精華會計師事務所) who was contracted by the TPP to handle financial reporting for TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential bid, was released on bail of NT$1 million (US$30,945).
The amount was lowered after being initially set at NT$2 million.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Lee Wen-chuan (李文娟) — director of the marketing firm Muko (木可行銷公關), which handled events and merchandising for the Ko campaign — was released on bail of NT$1.5 million.
They have been barred from leaving the country and are to wear electronic surveillance monitors.
Both are under investigation for forgery after discrepancies were found in TPP reporting of campaign payments to marketing firms.
The party said earlier this week that mistakes were made in 17 campaign finance declarations totaling about NT$18 million.
Tuanmu’s assistant Chen Wei-hsuan (陳韋瑄) and Muko accountant Ho Ai-ting (何璦廷), who were originally called as witnesses in the case, have now been listed as suspects.
Chen was released without bail, while Ho was released on bail of NT$500,000.
‘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
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
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
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RSS