ELECTION 2024/Independent legislative candidate detained over alleged China funding

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) Independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇) was detained and held incommunicado on Friday on suspicion of having received funding from China to run in the Jan. 13, 2024 election in Taiwan.

The detention was necessary because Ma could potentially flee the country and collude with others to destroy evidence, the Taoyuan District Court told media reporters.

Ma is currently running for the legislative seat representing Taoyuan's first constituency, which includes the districts of Luzhu, Guishan and Taoyuan (15 wards).

The court said the candidate is suspected of having received funding from unidentified individuals in China to run in the Jan. 13 election, under a request that she pass on details about Taiwanese intelligence and other election-related information to them.

Ma is suspected of contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act, and as such, a request to detain her was granted early Friday morning as prosecutors continue to investigate the case, the court added.

According to prosecutors, a probe was launched after a tipoff was recently received alleging Ma had met with representatives of China's Taiwan affairs offices during her visits to China in April and May last year, where both parties discussed exchanging election information for funding from China.

Following a preliminary investigation, prosecutors said Ma allegedly received the funding in several remittances, and in the form of Tether, a cryptocurrency.

The amount of Tether that she received was equivalent to roughly NT$1 million, prosecutors said.

The virtual currency was a "cold wallet" which prosecutors said they believed was used to cover her election campaign expenses.

A cold wallet is a crypto wallet that is not connected to the Internet and can be stored by users offline, thereby preventing theft from hackers. Tether can also be sold for cash.

On Thursday, Ma was brought in for questioning by prosecutors over her alleged involvement in the case.

The independent candidate used to be a reporter for a local media outlet and was the Taoyuan chapter spokesperson for the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) in 2023.

In late last year, Ma failed to be nominated by the TPP as one of its legislative candidates to run in the Jan. 13 election.