00:00More people affiliated with Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang are in hot water.
00:06Another five have been charged with forgery and breaching personal data protection laws,
00:12among them Huang Lu Jinru, the head of the KMT's Taipei office.
00:19The group is suspected of gathering fake signatures, supposedly, to support recall campaigns against
00:26two ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, including Secretary General of the Party's
00:32Legislative Caucus Wu Siyao.
00:34Prosecutors say their investigation turned up forgery rates as high as 96 percent, meaning
00:41over nine in every ten signatures were problematic.
00:45They suspect the campaigners may have filled out petition forms themselves by copying information
00:51from party member lists.
00:53Besides the five charged, around twenty other KMT affiliates received deferred prosecution.
01:00This is the third indictment relating to recall campaigns against DPP lawmakers in recent weeks,
01:06drawing harsh criticism from the ruling party.
01:09It comes amid a mass recall movement in Taiwan, with campaigns vying to remove lawmakers from both the KMT and the DPP.
01:28To initiate recall votes, petitioners must gather enough signatures from a legislator's constituency.
01:45This is where the KMT has run into trouble, after reports surfaced that petitions targeting DPP politicians contained the signatures of dead people or were forged.
01:56Prosecutors in this latest case are seeking heavy sentences for those indicted, saying they lack remorse for undermining Taiwan's democracy.
02:06But KMT officials say the defendants' actions do not merit severe punishment.
02:11They say that even the investigation into the five has been unfair.
02:15The indictment comes just days before Taiwan's Central Election Commission is set to announce which lawmaker recall petitions will continue on to a vote.
02:29This recall movement is already the largest in the country's history, but these charges will now complicate an already complex legal process.
02:53This will be charged for performance on N likes to vote at Katz Ma and Lesly Liao for Taiwan+.
