TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two people have been sentenced to prison for offering cash for signatures in support of Foxconn founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) failed presidential bid.
Former member of the Kuomintang’s (KMT) Central Committee Fang Chen-lien (范成連) and Xinpu Township Representative Council Chair Wang Tseng-chi (王增基) were sentenced to prison by the Hsinchu District Court on Wednesday (July 3) for using bribes to obtain 3,510 signatures in support of Gou’s presidential campaign.
The court found that the pair offered NT$400 (US$12) per signature, per CNA. Wang collected the signatures at a gas station he operated in Hsinchu.
Fang was sentenced to four years in prison, fined NT$4 million (US$122,316), and banned from holding public office for eight years. Wang was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison, fined NT$1.8 million, and banned from holding public office for six years. Both can appeal their sentences.
Fang denied the bribery charges during the trial and said that the NT$1.6 million he provided to Wang for the bribes was for administrative expenses. The judge did not accept Fang’s explanation and said that Fang and Wang ignored electoral laws, harmed the fairness of the presidential election, and hindered Taiwan’s democratic development.
The pair were authorized to collect signatures on behalf of the campaign, which Gou needed to run as an independent candidate. It is illegal to offer money for an individual’s support for a presidential candidacy in Taiwan.
As Gou’s campaign continued to collect signatures, dozens of people came under investigation for offering cash, toilet paper, rice wine, and other items in exchange for support. Gou’s campaign office said that anyone found to be acting outside of the law would be punished as investigations mounted.
Gou dropped out of the presidential race on Nov. 24, though claimed to have collected over 900,000 signatures in support of his campaign by that time. His campaign ended the day after Taiwan’s two main opposition parties announced they had failed to form a united ticket at a fractious public meeting organized by Gou.
