10 KMT affiliates indicted in Chiayi for recall petition forgery

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) The Chiayi District Prosecutors Office on Tuesday indicted 10 people affiliated with the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for forging 2,067 signatures on a petition to recall ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷).

Those indicted include Yang Fu-cheng (楊富程), secretary-general of the KMT's Chiayi County branch; Ho Po-lun (何博倫), director of KMT lawmaker Wang Yu-min's (王育敏) local office; and eight others from the county branch, according to the prosecutors' office.

They were charged with forgery and violations of the Personal Data Protection Act, prosecutors said.

Another eight people -- relatives and friends of the suspects -- were granted deferred prosecution for one year, each required to pay NT$50,000 (US$1,670) to the public treasury.

Prosecutors said the KMT's Chiayi County branch held a meeting of core members on Jan. 23 and distributed around 300 blank recall petitions for them to fill out, aiming to meet the required threshold of 2,204 signatures.

Between Feb. 3 and 8, the suspects also asked friends to fill out petitions using the personal details of KMT members without their consent, forging signatures to push the total to 2,639, prosecutors said.

Among the petitions, 39 were in the names of deceased individuals, and 511 contained incorrect names, addresses or ID numbers, prosecutors said.

In total, 2,067 signatures were confirmed to have been forged.

All 18 individuals confessed, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors raided the party's Chiayi County branch on June 5 and detained Yang and Ho the following day after questioning them.

Following their indictment, Yang and Ho were ordered released from prison Tuesday evening on bail of NT$500,000 and NT$200,000, respectively.