TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Kuomingtang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) is being investigated for allegedly buying votes through costly banquets at high-end restaurants.
According to local media reports, in one incident, the former TV series actress in October invited prospective voters to attend a banquet at the Shin Tung Nan Seafood restaurant, where she paid for five tables at a cost of NT$9,000 (US$294) each, nearly NT$50,000 in total. The Taipei District Prosecutor's Office on Thursday (Dec. 1) brought Ying, a borough chief candidate surnamed Yang (楊), and three other suspects in for questioning on suspicion of breaching the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
During the meal, Yang allegedly not only asked for support from would-be voters, but also asked everyone in attendance to support and vote for Ying. When interviewed by the media in front of the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office on Thursday evening, Ying insisted that she was "100% innocent," and said that she was "very grateful to prosecutors" for allowing her to provide an explanation as soon as possible, reported CNA.
Yang, whose acting career spanned from the 80s to early 2000s, has served multiple terms as Taipei city councilor since 2010. In this year's local election held on Nov. 26, she was re-elected with 19,440 votes in Taipei's 5th District, which includes Zhongzheng and Wanhua districts.
Prosecutors and police stated that they were acting on reports that Ying and Yang, who did not win his bid for borough chief, had been bribing voters through dinner parties in October, a violation of election laws. Ying said that she felt that the charges were the work of "malicious people."