By Huang Mei-ju and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Authorities yesterday searched media platform owner Wu Tzu-chia’s (吳子嘉) office in a probe into alleged libel and electoral interference targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Hsinchu County commissioner candidate Cheng Chao-fang (鄭朝方).
Wu is a prolific public commentator and owner of My-Formosa.com, an online outlet focusing on political news.
The Hsinchu County Prosecutors’ Office said it launched an inquiry into a man surnamed Wu over alleged breaches of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法).
My-Formosa.com chairman Wu Tzu-chia attends a court hearing in Taipei on April 10, 2024.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The office did not disclose further information.
Sources familiar with the matter said police had questioned Wu, and searched his residence and offices.
Cheng, the mayor of Jhubei City (竹北), had filed a criminal complaint accusing Wu of distributing libelous materials with the intent of preventing his election, they said.
Wu allegedly spread two tranches of defamatory pamphlets, which bore Wu’s signature, among Hsinchu voters over the past two months, sources cited the Cheng campaign’s lawyers as saying in the complaint.
The material falsely accused Cheng of illegal profiteering and unlawful lobbying tied to Chih Shan Manor (至善莊園) and Shencyu Village (神去) development projects in Jhudong Township (竹東), the sources said.
The pamphlets falsely claimed Cheng’s brother had ordered gangsters to break into a home in a bid to intimidate a whistleblower, they cited the document as saying.
Wu has repeated these claims on his talk show, acknowledged his authorship of the pamphlets and said he printed 500,000 copies of similar material for distribution, they added.
Cheng’s lawyers consider the pundit’s actions to constitute the crime of preventing the election of a candidate and aggravated defamation, the sources said.
Wu’s digital platform in a statement called the investigation an attack on freedom and said Wu is carrying out a hunger strike in protest.
Wu would refuse to pay bail if ordered to do so, it added.
Additional reporting by CNA