By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Civic group representatives filed a lawsuit with the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office yesterday against two China-based Taiwanese businessmen over alleged bribery in last year’s presidential election.
The lawsuit was filed against Kuo Shan-hui (郭山輝), chairman of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland (全國台灣同胞投資企業聯誼會), and Yeh Hui-te (葉惠德), the association’s executive vice chairman, after the two called for immediate ratification of the cross-strait service trade pact in a press conference in Taipei yesterday morning.
“We filed the lawsuit because democratic elections ... should be the minimum requirement for any democracy. However, Beijing has mobilized Taiwanese business groups and tycoons in recent years to interfere with [Taiwan’s] elections and domestic politics,” Cross-Strait Agreement Watch Association (CSAWA) convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said.
Representatives of the Taiwan Association of University Professors, the Taiwan Democracy Watch and the CSAWA jointly filed the lawsuit.