Lee Chuan-chiao appeal dismissed by High Court

By Jason Pan / Staff reporter





The Taiwan High Court’s Tainan branch yesterday upheld the guilty verdict of suspended Tainan City Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) for vote-buying, on charges that stemmed from the city’s 2014 councilor elections. The ruling means Lee is stripped of his seat on the council, and thus of his position as speaker.

The High Court rejected Lee’s appeal against a lower court ruling, finding that there was sufficient evidence that Lee was guilty of vote-buying during the campaign.

Evidence showed that during the election, Lee’s campaign manager, Huang Teng-ching (黃澄清), had a list of voters’ names and addresses, and planned to distribute NT$5,000 to each of them so that they would vote for Lee.

Former Tainan City Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao talks to reporters in Tainan yesterday after the High Court’s Tainan branch upheld a guilty verdict against him for vote-buying. Photo: Hung Jui-chin, Taipei Times

Huang and two other senior campaign staff, Lee Li-hua (李麗華) and Kang Ching-liang (康清良), were found guilty of buying votes by a district court in July last year, with Huang given a five-year prison term, while Lee Li-hua and Kang were given suspended sentences of two years and 19 months each.

Lee Chuan-chiao is a long-time member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and was a KMT legislator for three terms from 1999 to 2008. He has been a member of the KMT Central Standing Committee, and has also served as secretary-general of the KMT legislative caucus.

After yesterday’s ruling, Lee Chuan-chiao did not appear in public, but issued a written statement that said: “Political bickering is harmful to Taiwan, and excessive politicizing of the judiciary will do even greater harm to Taiwan’s democracy and the rule of law. The aim to strip the council speaker post from me has been achieved, so please leave the voters alone, because they are innocent.”

“In the current political atmosphere, I was prepared for the court’s ruling, so please allow me some time for reflection,” Lee Chuan-chiao said.

Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) convened a news conference after the verdict.

“The ruling is proof that ‘evil cannot triumph over good,’ and it signals the end of Lee [Chuan-chiao]’s orchestrated farce, which had long tormented Tainan,” he said.

“The case shows that anyone using devious means to achieve their ends will reap what they have sown. I hope this odious attempt to subvert democracy can serve as a warning to everyone, and I hope it will be the last of such cases,” Lai said.