Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of major Apple supplier Foxconn, who recently qualified to run in Taiwan's presidential elections, is now facing controversy surrounding the acquisition of signatures for his candidacy [72e85c99]. Pingtung County Council Speaker Chou Tien-lun has been detained on suspicion of buying signatures to support Gou's bid [72e85c99]. Chou denies the allegations and claims that the funds were wages given to staffers [72e85c99]. However, witnesses have testified that the fee was used to buy signatures [72e85c99]. Gou needed to collect 289,667 valid signatures to officially qualify for the ballot, and he reached the threshold with a total of 902,389 signatures [72e85c99]. As of now, six individuals have been detained on suspicion of buying signatures for Gou [72e85c99]. Despite this controversy, Gou still has until next Friday to formally register his candidacy with the election commission [a87229b1]. The election is scheduled for January, and Gou is one of four candidates in the race [a87229b1]. However, opinion polls indicate that he is the least favored candidate [a87229b1].