Changhua County prosecutors on Tuesday said they would appeal a decision by the Changhua District Court to acquit two people accused of offering a free trip to China to 18 people in exchange for their agreement to vote for a candidate favored by Beijing in January’s presidential election.
The court cited a lack of evidence to back up the claims in the indictment in its decision on Wednesday last week.
Prosecutors accused a Taiwanese businessman surnamed Cheng (鄭) of collaborating with a Hemei Township (和美) official surnamed Tsai (蔡) to organize the trip to Dongguan in China’s Guangdong Province from Nov. 18 to Nov 23 last year.
Photo: Chen Kuan-pei, Taipei Times
Cheng provided NT$360,000 to pay for the trip after being tasked and financed by a Chinese official surnamed Huang (黃) to lure Taiwanese to China, prosecutors said.
Cheng messaged the people who went on the trip, asking them to promise to vote for a specific candidate, prosecutors said, adding that they all replied that they would.
During a meal in Huangjiang with Chinese officials in attendance, Cheng asked the tour group members to publicly show their backing for the candidate, prosecutors said.
Cheng and Tsai were charged with contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法) for allegedly buying votes for a presidential candidate. Both men denied any wrongdoing.
Cheng told the court that the trip was to court potential investors in China, which was why all of the travel expenses were paid.
There was no political motivation, he said.
Most of the tour group members said Cheng never instructed them how to vote in the presidential election.
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