New Taipei Inspection and Bribery Conference Zheng Mingqian: The Ministry of Justice is the first line of solid support

The New Taipei District Prosecutor's Office held a symposium on election inspection divisions yesterday afternoon. In his speech, Minister of Justice Zheng Mingqian affirmed the excellent performance of the New Taipei City bribery inspection team, saying that New Taipei City's bribery inspection team has achieved outstanding results, making all sectors of society deeply aware of the determination of the investigation of bribery, and demonstrating the Ministry of Justice's election inspection work program "Fair Elections" The core spirit of "election and protection of democracy", and emphasized that the determination of election bribery should return to whether there is a consideration relationship and whether it is enough to influence voters' voting intentions. The amount of property should not be used as the criterion alone. We encourage all agencies to continue to actively investigate bribery. The Ministry of Justice will fully serve as a solid backing for front-line colleagues.

The meeting was chaired by New Taipei Prosecutor General Guo Yongfa. In addition to inviting Zheng Mingqian, Acting Prosecutor General Xu Xixiang, Prosecutor General of the High People's Procuratorate Zhang Douhui, Director of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Xie Mingguan, Investigation Director Chen Baili, Deputy Director of the Police Li Wenwen, Secretary Lin Zeqian of the Immigration Agency of the Ministry of the Interior, and Deputy Director of the Prosecutor's Department of the Ministry of Justice Gao Yishu attended the meeting.

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In addition to thanking the New Taipei Prosecutor's Office and all cooperating agencies for their investment in election inspections, Xu Xixiang emphasized that bribery investigations should not blindly pursue numbers, but should also pay attention to the quality of cases, evidence preservation and procedural legality, abide by the presumption of innocence, non-disclosure of investigations and the principles of proportionality, and adopt consistent law enforcement standards for all camps. Suspected election bribery, such as meals, gifts, and public welfare activities, should be carefully identified based on specific evidence such as payment objects, time, methods, funding sources, and whether there is a relationship with voting consideration. In addition, inspections of election betting, overseas intermediaries, virtual currencies, and deep fake information should be strengthened, and cross-regional intelligence exchanges, digital evidence preservation, and fund traceability should be implemented to ensure that the results of bribery investigations can withstand judicial inspection.

Zhang Douhui pointed out that the joint efforts of prosecutors, police and investigators and the continuous release of news on bribery investigations have had a considerable deterrent effect, stressing that "bribery investigations are the best anti-bribery propaganda." In the face of possible emergencies before the election, all agencies are reminded to prepare in advance, familiarize themselves with the procedures for ballot seizure, inspection and mass incident handling, strengthen coordination and division of labor with the police agencies, and properly allocate pre-election investigation manpower. At the same time, it is required that the investigation and search process should comply with legal procedures to avoid unfair interrogations, and continue to strengthen the investigation of election gambling and online false information to maintain election fairness.

Guo Yongfa emphasized that in addition to strictly observing due legal procedures, presumption of innocence, and continuous audio and video recording of the entire investigation, the investigation of bribery must also master the principle of "speed". From intelligence collection, case deployment to investigation operations, rapid response and immediate processing are required in order to effectively exert the effectiveness of bribery investigation. We will also coordinate pre-election court arrangements, concentrate investigation efforts into election inspections, and continue to strengthen anti-election bribery propaganda to allow the public to fully understand the election bribery identification standards, whistleblower bonuses, and whistleblower identity confidentiality mechanisms.

The New Taipei Prosecutor's Office pointed out that so far, the New Taipei Prosecutor's Office has conducted 14 searches, ordered 28 people to be released on bail, requested 5 people to be detained, and investigated and prosecuted 4 cases, demonstrating the specific results of active investigation of cases of election interference.