TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Two more people have been charged in connection with Foxconn founder Terry Gou’s (郭台銘) failed presidential campaign for allegedly offering gifts in exchange for support.
Prosecutors on Tuesday (Sept. 3) said two people who organized 55 campaign offices throughout New Taipei to gather signatures for Gou’s presidential bid were charged, per CNA. An investigation found the pair allegedly spent more than NT$345,000 (US$10,750) on 13,000 bottles of rice cooking wine, which they offered to people who signed in support of Gou.
Signature-gathering locations offering the 600-milliliter bottles of cooking wine also allegedly promoted that signatures could be exchanged for the gift. Witnesses also testified that they knew they could only receive the rice wine if they provided their signatures.
The two accused said they were not swapping gifts for signatures, and noted that the value of the rice wine was NT$27 - lower than the NT$30 threshold for free campaign merchandise allowable under electoral regulations.
However, prosecutors said that most of the rice wine bottles distributed did not have Gou’s likeness or any campaign information printed on them, making it difficult to identify them as campaign merchandise.
Prosecutors have investigated and charged dozens of people connected to the Gou campaign for offering gifts in exchange for supporting his presidential bid.
As an independent candidate, Gou needed to gather a certain amount of signatures from the public to be eligible to have his name on the ballot sheet. Gou eventually surpassed the required threshold but ultimately dropped out of the race.
