A local borough chief in New Taipei is under criminal investigation after creditors said he dodged them for years, then resurfaced before the election promising repayment in exchange for votes — bad news for him, and a warning for anyone lending money to a candidate.

• Several creditors say Lin Chun-tao of Guanghua borough in Sanchong owed them millions of Taiwan dollars, went silent, and only reappeared as the election neared.
• They told police he pushed the line "elect me and I'll pay you back," which they see as trading debt relief for votes.
• Prosecutors and police are now looking at both fraud and vote-buying under election law.
• Legal opinion: saying "I can only repay if I win" is usually not a crime, but "vote for me and I'll repay you" can count as bribery, since forgiving debt or offering money for votes is illegal.
• Simply failing to repay a debt is normally a civil matter — fraud only sticks if creditors can show the stated reason for borrowing was fake, the same story was used on many people, the borrower was already deep in debt, or he vanished right after taking the money.

Outlook: Prosecutors will decide whether the repayment promise crossed into vote-buying, and the case is stronger the more creditors file together — anyone in this position should gather chat logs, transfer records, and loan documents rather than rely on verbal accounts.