Chiayi: The Chiayi District Prosecutors Office on Tuesday indicted 10 people affiliated with the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) for forging 2,067 signatures on a petition to recall ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Chen Kuan-ting. Those indicted include Yang Fu-cheng, secretary-general of the KMT’s Chiayi County branch; Ho Po-lun, director of KMT lawmaker Wang Yu-min’s local office; and eight others from the county branch.

According to Focus Taiwan, the individuals were charged with forgery and violations of the Personal Data Protection Act. Another eight people-relatives and friends of the suspects-were granted deferred prosecution for one year, each required to pay NT$50,000 (US$1,670) to the public treasury.

Prosecutors revealed that the KMT’s Chiayi County branch held a meeting of core members on January 23 and distributed around 300 blank recall petitions to meet the required threshold of 2,204 signatures. Between February 3 and 8, the suspects allegedly asked friends to fill out petitions using the personal details of KMT members without their consent, forging signatures to push the total to 2,639.

Among the petitions, 39 were in the names of deceased individuals, and 511 contained incorrect names, addresses, or ID numbers. In total, 2,067 signatures were confirmed to have been forged. All 18 individuals confessed, prosecutors stated.

Prosecutors raided the party’s Chiayi County branch on June 5 and detained Yang and Ho the following day after questioning them. Following their indictment, Yang and Ho were released from prison Tuesday evening on bail of NT$500,000 and NT$200,000, respectively.