12 KMT staff indicted for recall vote forgeries in Yilan

Taipei, June 19 (CNA) Twelve staffers from the Kuomintang's (KMT) offices in Yilan County were indicted Thursday for allegedly forging signatures in a campaign to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇).

Among those charged were Lin Ming-chang (林明昌), chairman of the KMT's Yilan County chapter, and two senior officials, Yu Ling-chieh (俞凌傑) and Chen Chien-feng (陳堅豐), identified as the main figures overseeing the office, according to the Yilan District Prosecutors Office.

The other nine were the heads of KMT offices in local townships and cities.

The 12 were indicted for suspected violations of the Personal Data Protection Act and document forgery, allegedly committed to ensure the petition passed the first stage of the recall process, which required a minimum of 3,653 valid signatures to be submitted by Feb. 3.

Prosecutors said Lin, Yu and Chen instructed the nine office chiefs to forge around 4,000 signatures using party member information on Jan. 23 and 24, with each staffer paid NT$100 to NT$150 (US$3.38-5.06) per hour.

Of the around 4,000 falsified signatures, 1,106 were selected and combined with 3,100 signatures from actual supporters, submitted to the Central Election Commission (CEC) by Yu, Chen and campaign organizer Lee Hui-ling (李惠玲).

Prosecutors described the operation as "collective fraud," saying the actions undermined Taiwan's democratic process by violating election regulations and infringing on the rights of both Chen Chun-yu and the KMT members whose data was misused.

Prosecutors requested heavy penalties for Lin, Yu and Chen, citing the risk of evidence tampering and collusion.

Lin denied any wrongdoing, while Yu and Chen admitted to copying information but attempted to shield Lin from responsibility.

Lee, who led the recall campaign but claimed no knowledge of the forgeries, was not indicted.