Supreme Court upholds jail term for candidate

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a two-year, eight-month prison sentence for former independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei (馬治薇) for accepting funding from China during her 2024 election campaign.The ruling cannot be appealed. Prosecutors had been notified to take measures to prevent Ma from leaving Taiwan, the court said. Independent legislative candidate Ma Chih-wei, right, poses with Taiwan People’s Party founder Ko Wen-je in Taoyuan in an undated photograph. Photo from Ma’s Facebook Ma received about NT$1.05 million (US$32,542) in cash and cryptocurrency from two China-based contacts, known as “Bing-jie” (冰姐) and “A-hao” (阿浩), prosecutors said.The money was used to fund her campaign for a legislative seat in Taoyuan in the January 2024 elections, they said. In return, Ma provi