TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Kuomingtang (KMT) borough chief candidate and her husband have been indicted for a vote-buying scheme that involved China.
Chiu Jui-lien (邱瑞蓮), a former Neihu District campaign manager for Taipei Mayor-elect Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), is being investigated by the Shilin District Prosecutor's Office for vote-buying. Chiu and her husband surnamed Chen (陳) are suspected of breaching the Civil Servants Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Medical Device Management Act (醫療器材管理法), and Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法).
Although Chiu failed in her bid for borough chief by 474 votes, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau received intelligence that as early as September, Chiu accepted Chinese funding to send Chinese-made rapid antigen test kits as part of a vote-buying scheme. Chen, who previously worked in the Taiwan Work Department in Fujian's Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone, allegedly used the data of 60 people to declare the import of 100 doses of rapid antigen test kits from China.
A total of 6,000 rapid antigen test kits were obtained free of charge and circumvented the Ministry of Health and Welfare's requirement that imports of more than 100 such test kits from China receive official approval. After Chiu and Chen obtained the Chinese-made test kits, they advertised on leaflets and through Facebook that every household in the bureau could receive rapid test kits from June 24-26, and asked them to vote for Chiu for borough chief in the Nov. 26 election.
The Shilin District Prosecutor's Office believes that through their connections with organizations in China, Chiu and Chen violated Article 7 of the Anti-infiltration Act by receiving "funding by infiltrating sources," Article 99-1 of the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act for "Offenses of interference with voting," and Article 62-1 "importing medical devices without approval."
The Prosecutor's Office closed by emphasizing that the election of public officials in Taiwan "should not be interfered with or infiltrated by foreign hostile forces in order to maintain a fair election environment and strengthen the protection of sovereignty and the liberal democratic constitutional order." As a violation of the Anti-infiltration Act is involved, the penalty can be increased by half, and the two could face sentences of between four and a half to 15 years in prison.