Judges at the Chiayi District Court handed down the sentence to Lai Chun-an, chief of the Kuanshih Village in Chiayi’s Shuishang Township, for having given NT$6,000 to his neighbor, Hsiao Su-miao, Jan. 2 so that Hsiao could offer NT$1,500 (US$48.39) per vote to help legislative candidate Weng Chung-chun in Chiayi to get elected in the Jan. 12 legislative elections.

Chiayi public prosecutors searched the homes of Lai and Hsiao Jan. 3, where Lai categorically denied having committed vote-buying, but Hsiao admitted to having received NT$6,000 from Lai and having been told by Lai “to win votes for the candidate.”

During ensuing interrogations, Lai could not justify his giving of NT$6,000 to Hsiao, who had been an assistant to Lai during his campaigning for the election of village chief two years ago, according to the judges.

The judges decided to hand down a three-year-six-month jail term to Lai for vote-buying, with his civil rights deprived for six years.

Hsiao, who had been indicted on charges of taking bribes, was given a two-month jail term, with two years’ probation, in addition to deprivation of her civil rights for one year.

Lai, the first local administrator to be convicted of vote-buying involving legislative elections in the Chiayi area, could appeal, the judges said.

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