New Taipei councilor bailed in suspected laundry detergent vote-buying case

New Taipei City Councilor Yang Chun-mei (楊春妹) was released on NT$500,000 bail and barred from leaving Taiwan after prosecutors accused her of distributing laundry detergent to voters as part of a vote-buying scheme, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday.

Prosecutors said they are investigating allegations that Yang recently distributed laundry detergent and other household goods to voters at several community activity centers, in what is the first suspected vote-buying case involving a New Taipei City councilor in this year’s local elections.

Prosecutors said they searched Yang’s home, office and other locations on Tuesday, finding large quantities of laundry detergent and other household goods allegedly intended for distribution to voters.

New Taipei City Councilor Yang Chun-mei is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo: Screen grab from the New Taipei City Council’s Web site

Twenty-one people, including Yang, two assistants and witnesses were questioned, prosecutors said.

Yang and the two assistants are suspected of offering or giving bribes to eligible voters in exchange for votes, they said.

Yang, a four-term Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) councilor representing New Taipei City’s electoral constituency No. 12 for Plains Indigenous Tribes, recently registered to seek a fifth term in this year’s local elections.

One of Yang’s assistants was released on NT$400,000 bail and barred from leaving Taiwan, while the other was released on NT$40,000 bail.

The remainder of those questioned were released afterward, prosecutors said.

Taiwan does not have a fixed price threshold above which an election gift automatically constitutes vote-buying. The key issue stipulated under the Public Officials Election And Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) is whether the gift is provided as an improper benefit in exchange for specific voting behavior.