Wu Te-mei

Wu Te-mei
吳德美
Member of the Legislative Yuan
In office
1 February 1990 – 31 January 1996
ConstituencyKaohsiung 2
In office
1 February 1984 – 31 January 1990
ConstituencyKaohsiung
Member of the Kaohsiung City Council
In office
December 1981 – December 1985
Personal details
Born(1947-11-23)23 November 1947
Kaohsiung
Died6 December 2015(2015-12-06) (aged 68)
Cianjhen, Kaohsiung
NationalityTaiwanese
Political partyKuomintang
SpouseChu An-hsiung [zh]
Children3
Occupationpolitician

Wu Te-mei (Chinese: 吳德美; 23 November 1947 – 6 December 2015) was a Taiwanese politician.

Wu was born on 23 November 1947 in Kaohsiung.[1][2] In 1972, her husband Chu An-hsiung [zh] mounted an independent bid for the Kaohsiung City Council. For supporting his campaign, Wu was expelled from the Kuomintang.[3] Wu herself served on the Kaohsiung City Council between 1981 and 1985.[4] In 1983, Wu won her first election to the Legislative Yuan, and retained her seat in 1986, 1989, and 1993.[5]

Throughout their political careers, Wu and Chu invested in several businesses.[5] In May 2000, the couple were charged with accounting fraud.[6] By December 2002, when Chu was elected city council speaker, the case had not yet been heard in court.[3] Later that month, both Wu and Chu were arrested and a court hearing was scheduled for January 2003.[7][8] Shortly after questioning by prosecutors, Wu was released on bail while Chu remained in custody.[9] Chu did not report to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office to begin serving his sentence in October 2003.[10] The next month, Wu claimed that Chu's political rival Chen Tien-miao had bought votes to win the 1994 speakership election and called for the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office to investigate him.[11] The allegations were made on the same day the Kaohsiung District Court had sentenced Wu to six months imprisonment.[12] Her sentence was eventually extended to six years and eight months, which she began serving in 2009. Wu was released on medical parole in 2013 and underwent dialysis treatments.[13][14] The Kaohsiung District Court ruled in a separate case heard in February 2010, that Wu was guilty of vote buying on her daughter's behalf in a 2006 municipal election.[15] Wu died aged 68 on 6 December 2015, of kidney failure caused by diabetes.[14][16] Chu, who had left for China, did not return for Wu's funeral held on 21 December 2015.[17]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "吳德美" (in Chinese). huaxia.com. 18 July 2003. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  2. ^ "第二屆立法委員選舉選舉公報" (PDF) (in Chinese). Central Election Commission. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Prosecutors set sights on three movers and shakers". Taipei Times. 29 December 2002. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  4. ^ "吳德美" (in Chinese). Kaohsiung City Council. 9 March 2018.
  5. ^ a b "Scandal brings Chu down to earth". Taipei Times. 4 January 2003. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  6. ^ Jou, Ying-cheng (10 May 2000). "Kaohsiung name in NT$350m tax scam". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  7. ^ Chuang, Jimmy (28 December 2002). "Chu An-hsiung to face hearing in early January". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  8. ^ Chuang, Jimmy (30 December 2002). "Kaohsiung speaker arrested for bribery". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  9. ^ Chuang, Jimmy (19 January 2003). "Speaker Chu admits to paying bribes". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  10. ^ Chuang, Jimmy (22 October 2003). "Chu persecuted by his enemies, family charges". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  11. ^ Chuang, Jimmy (29 November 2003). "Prosecutors to investigate Chen Tien-mao". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  12. ^ Chuang, Jimmy (28 November 2003). "Fugitive Chu gets sentenced to more time in prison". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  13. ^ "【獨家】吳德美病逝 兒用八字評亡母". Next (in Chinese). 7 December 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  14. ^ a b 葛祐豪 (6 December 2015). "吳德美病逝 女兒PO文:什麼都是假的 只有健康是真的". Liberty Times. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  15. ^ Chang, Rich (25 February 2010). "Ex-KMT legislator gets three years in jail for vote-buying". Taipei Times. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  16. ^ 林宏聰; 王錦河 (6 December 2015). "前立委吳德美猝逝 前陣子稱「可能活不久」". China Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  17. ^ 張忠義 (21 December 2015). "吳德美告別式 政商好友弔唁 未見夫婿朱安雄". Liberty Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 9 March 2018.