Pingtung County Council Speaker Sentenced to 3 Years and 4 Months for Illegal Signature Collection

Pingtung County Council Speaker Chou Tien-lun, involved in a case of using 5 million NTD in bribes to collect signatures for Terry Gou's presidential bid, has been sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison by the Kaohsiung High Court in a retrial. He was also fined 1.5 million NTD and stripped of his civil rights for 5 years. Although prosecutors appealed for a heavier sentence, the court considered that while the bribe amount was high, the actual impact on the election was limited.