Court orders 3 KMT staff detained in recall petition forgery case

Taipei, June 18 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Tuesday ordered three senior workers of the Kuomintang's (KMT) Taipei branch to remain in detention over their alleged involvement in submitting fake signatures to recall two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.

The court cited risks of evidence tampering and collusion in its decision to keep 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) in custody.

Prosecutors said the three directed or participated in the fabrication of over 5,000 signature forms targeting DPP legislators Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤).

Those forms exceeded 90 percent of all forms submitted in the first stage of the recall campaign, which requires the endorsement of 1 percent of an electoral district's eligible voters.

On Monday, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office indicted Huang Lu, Chu, and Yao for violations of the Personal Data Protection Act and engaging in document forgery.

The court said forging recall documents undermined not only the legitimacy of the recall process but also Taiwan's democratic and electoral systems.

While Chu and Yao admitted wrongdoing, the court noted inconsistencies in their statements and signs of coordination among the accused. Huang Lu has denied the charges.

The three, who were already being held in custody prior to Tuesday's court hearing, were among five people indicted on Monday.

The remaining two individuals -- Lai Yi-jen (賴苡任), the organizer of the recall campaign against Wu Szu-yao, and Chen Kuei-hsun (陳奎勳), a KMT district office executive -- were not detained.

Fifteen other KMT staff and volunteers who cooperated with the investigation were granted deferred prosecution.

The case is part of a broader wave of investigations into alleged forgery in politically charged recall drives across Taiwan.

Getting a recall initiative to an actual vote requires campaigners to get the signatures of at least 1 percent of a constituency's eligible voters in the first stage and 10 percent of eligible voters in the second stage.