The Journalist (新新聞) admitted yesterday that it lacked any concrete evidence to prove Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) had spoken with one its top editors.
But at the same time it blamed Lu for erasing telephone records which would have revealed she was spreading rumors of an affair in the Presidential Office and trying to undermine President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The president of The Journalist, Wang Chien-chuang (王健壯), said yesterday at a late night press conference that the story was based on two phone calls between Yang Chao (
Yang, who received a message from Lu and then had a conversation with her, said he had no way of recording their dialogue.
"When Yang received Lu's phone calls, he was in the car on his way home. There was no way for him to tape their conversation. Besides, criminal law prohibits phone taping [without consent] as a violation of privacy," Wang said.
"The scenario we were most concerned about has happened," Wang added.
Wang said that the incoming calls made by Lu had not shown up on Yang's phone records, therefore, he suspected that Lu had exerted the powers of her office to alter Yang's incoming phone records.
Lu's lawyers flatly denied the accusation two hours later.
"[The media] has reached a verdict [on Lu] before any trial has been conducted. They kept [unfairly] accusing Lu of conspiracy based on what she had said or done [without evidence]," Lu's lawyer, Chiu Ya-wen (
In a written press release Chiu argued that while the media has the right to report the truth it also needs to back its reports up with evidence.
"Such a serious accusation has the capability of shaking the nation's foundations," Chiu said in the release. "Lu's name must be cleared."
The libel suit between Lu and the magazine is expected to have its first trial hearing on Friday. Both parties have previously requested the details of Yang's incoming and outgoing telephone calls between 10pm to midnight on Nov. 3 -- a pivotal piece of evidence to be used in court to potentially bolster the libel case, or sink it.
After Lu filed the libel suit against The Journalist on Dec. 21, Yang said that he had received Lu's telephone calls, in which she intentionally circulated details of Chen's alleged extra-martial affair with his aide and translator Bikhim Hsiao (蕭美琴). Yang and Lu have been accusing each other of lying ever since.
Yang dismissed accusations that the magazine had conjured up a lie just to boost circulation, which later became difficult to patch up, he said.
"How could my luck be so bad as to pick a date when the vice president coincidentally placed absolutely no outgoing calls," Yang said yesterday at the press conference, adding that Lu's telephone records showed that she made several calls the midnight before and after Nov. 3.
While Lu did not make any telephone calls on her mobile phone on Nov 3, she did make some from her home, one of Lu's lawyer said.
"This explains why there are no telephone records showing calls from her mobile," said Yu Mei-nu (
Yang said that many other illogical details had cast doubt on whether Lu was lying. For example, Lu first denied she had made that phone call, but later argued that someone faked her name to make that call, he said.
"This shows that there was a call made," Yang said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS