TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Prosecutors want a former legislative candidate who accepted funds from China for her campaign to spend at least three years and eight months in prison, reports said Friday (March 1).
Independent candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇) received more than NT$1 million (US$31,600) from Chinese sources to fund her campaign for a Taoyuan City seat in the Jan. 13 legislative elections, per CNA. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors Office wrapped up its investigation into her case Friday, charging her and requesting a prison sentence as well as a NT$2 million fine since her attitude had been negative.
Investigators alleged she had broken the Personal Data Protection Act, the Anti-Infiltration Act, and the National Security Act. She first contacted two Chinese officials in China last April who asked her to provide confidential documents in return for campaign funding, the prosecutors said.
Later in 2023, she visited China at least four times, receiving funds paid in U.S. dollars and in Tether cryptocurrency. In return, she provided the Chinese officials with a booklet containing names, addresses, and phone numbers of Taiwan government institutions ranging from the Presidential Office to intelligence agencies.
The prosecutors said she had denied the charges and generally took a negative attitude to the investigation. Even though Ma ran as an independent, she was a member of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which expelled her after it learned about the allegations.