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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Candidate indicted over test kits
Rapid COVID-19 tests are pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: CNA
HIGH PRICE: The borough candidate and her husband face up to 15 years in prison for allegedly importing 6,000 COVID-19 test kits from a Fujian-based group, officials said
/ Staff writer, with CNA
A Taipei borough warden candidate and her husband were on Monday indicted for accepting rapid COVID-19 test kits from a Chinese organization to give to voters.
The Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office said that Chiu Jui-lien （邱瑞蓮）, a candidate for Qingbai Borough （清白） warden in Neihu District （內湖）, and her husband, surnamed Chen （陳）, distributed China-made rapid test kits provided by a Chinese organization to people in their borough ahead of Saturday’s local elections.
The Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone in China’s Fujian Province allegedly offered to provide Chiu and Chen with rapid test kits, the prosecutors’ indictment said.
The couple, who worked as community construction planners in Fujian from 2018 to 2010, provided the zone with the information of 60 proxies to take possession of the 6,000 kits in May and June to bring them into Taiwan, it said.
After acquiring the rapid test kits, Chiu and Chen informed ward residents through flyers and Facebook that they could pick up kits from June 24 to 26 and to vote for Chiu for borough warden, the indictment said.
Chiu was running for borough warden after her husband failed in two previous attempts, prosecutors said.
The couple knew it was illegal to accept financial assistance from foreign hostile forces — including governments and their organizations, institutes or personnel, they said.
Prosecutors indicted Chiu and Chen on charges of contravening the Anti-infiltration Act （反滲透法）, the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act （公職人員選舉罷免法） and the Medical Devices Act （醫療器材管理法）.
A source said that the penalties for vote-buying under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act range from three to 10 years in prison, but Chiu and Chen could face four-and-a-half to 15 years in prison when offenses under the Anti-Infiltration Act are added.
On Aug. 4, Taipei Department of Health officials raided the office of a warden’s community development association and found 19 cartons with 127 boxes of test kits, each containing five test kits, the indictment said.
The acquisition of the rapid test kits contravened Food and Drug Administration regulations, which requires people to apply for authorization to import more than 100 rapid test kits from China, it said.
The couple initially did not admit to any wrongdoing during an investigation, saying only that they had distributed the rapid test kits as charity, it said.
Chiu later told prosecutors that she had received the kits from China and that she had not applied for authorization to import them.
Prosecutors said they indicted the Chiu and Chen on charges related to Chinese infiltration and vote-buying because of their connections in China, access to the rapid test kits in May and June and as Chiu had thanked the zone.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
