4 KMT staff, 1 activist charged for recall vote forgeries in Taipei

Taipei, June 16 (CNA) Five individuals affiliated with the Kuomintang (KMT), including senior staff from the party's Taipei branch, were indicted Monday for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in a campaign to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.

According to a news release issued by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, those indicted include KMT Taipei branch chief Huang Lu Chin-ru (黃呂錦茹), Secretary-General Chu Wen-ching (初文卿) and Secretary Yao Fu-wen (姚富文).

Prosecutors said the three fabricated 5,211 signature forms -- 2,537 related to the recall of DPP Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and 2,674 related to DPP Legislator Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) -- with forgery rates of 96 percent and 94 percent, respectively.

The three suspects are in detention and will be transferred on Tuesday to the Taipei District Court, the office said.

The office has requested heavy sentences, citing a lack of remorse and the defendants' role in "undermining the country's democratic foundations."

Prosecutors also indicted Lai Yi-jen (賴苡任), identified as the organizer of the campaign to recall Wu Szu-yao, and Chen Kuei-hsun (陳奎勳), an executive at the KMT's fourth district office in Taipei City.

Prosecutors said that 15 other KMT staffers and volunteers admitted guilt and were granted deferred prosecution, including Man Chih-kang (滿志剛), Liu Ssu-yin (劉思吟), Lin Jui (林叡) and Yeh Li-chin (葉麗琴).

Meanwhile, prosecutors declined to indict a number of other individuals, including KMT Taipei City Councilor Chang Szu-kang (張斯綱) and recall voter campaigners Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Chang Ko-chin (張克晉).

According to the office, the investigation was started following reports that recall vote campaign groups targeting Wu Szu-yao and Wu Pei-yi had submitted forged proposer forms, and a series of investigative actions took place from April 14.

Huang, Chu and Yao were detained and held incommunicado under court authority in the following days.

The office said the three "fabricated large volumes of name lists in a short period to advance political aims" instead of lawfully collecting signatures.

Under the Public Officials Election and Recall Act, Taiwanese voters may attempt to recall district-elected lawmakers by collecting signatures from local residents and submitting the joint-signature petitions to the Central Election Commission (CEC).

If enough valid signatures are submitted -- at least 1 percent of the total number of eligible voters in the district in the first petition round, and then at least 10 percent in the second round -- the elected official will face a public recall vote, according to the CEC.

Taiwan is currently in the midst of unprecedented mass recall vote campaigns, with supporters of the DPP and KMT both trying to unseat dozens of lawmakers from the opposite side of the political aisle.

The prosecutions in Taipei on Monday are one of several judicial actions that have taken place across Taiwan over alleged recall vote campaign irregularities, with KMT members and party-associated activists also accused of forging signatures in New Taipei, Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung and elsewhere.