Accuser gets a break in libel lawsuit

Wrongly accused acting head of the Department of Health Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) yesterday said he would reduce his claim for libel against a man who claimed to have been sexually harassed by him to a mere NT$1 provided the man "helps prosecutors to find the truth with all his heart."

But, Twu said, the remainder of his NT$50,000,000 claim would have to be borne by Cheng Ko-jung's (鄭可榮) co-accusers, PFP Legislator Diane Lee and public-relations consultant Ding Juei-feng (丁瑞豐).

Twu issued the written statement shortly before complying with a summons to testify at the first investigative hearing into the case. He said he would not withdraw his libel suit against the trio.

Twu added, however, that since he understood that Cheng could not afford his share of this sum -- approximately NT$17 million -- and since Cheng had more than once apologized to him publicly, "Cheng will only have to pay me NT$1 if: first, he helps the prosecutor find the truth with all his heart; and second, the court rules in my favor. Lee and Ding, however, will share the rest of the sum, which will be NT$49,999,999."

Twu made no further comment, and Lee and Ding declined to offer a statement.

Cheng said that he didn't really feel better.

"I will face the charges I deserve bravely," he said.

Lee pledged that she and Cheng would cooperate with prosecutors.

They spoke as Taipei Chief Prosecutor Chuang Cheng (莊正) held the first investigative hearing into Lee and Cheng's allegations and Twu's libel suit.

Yesterday's closed-door hearing, was divided into two parts. A morning session, which began at 10am, was intended to enable investigators to determine whether criminal charges need to be laid with respect to the events of Aug. 6. It heard testimony from the seven people who attended the KTV party at which Lee and Cheng allege the latter was sexually harassed.

The seven are Tu Hau-lin (屠豪麟) -- now accused by Lee and Cheng of being the actual harasser but originally mistaken by them for Twu -- Cheng, his friend Ding Juei-feng, Ding's girlfriend Hsu Hua-hui (許華惠), businessmen Chen Li (陳力) and Chen Kuo-hsiang (陳國翔) and the latter's wife, Lin Jung-shan (林榮珊).

Before entering the hearing, Tu protested his innocence to reporters.

"I was there and I have admitted that I held Cheng on the shoulders. That was it. I didn't kiss him or lick him in the ear as he alleges," Tu said, reiterating a statement he made on television on Sunday.

But Taipei District Prosecutors Office spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) told reporters that Tu's statement "did not 100 percent match" what he had told a prosecutor last week.

Tu was interviewed by prosecutors last Friday, as investigators questioned everybody who had attended the KTV party.

Chen Hung-ta declined reporters' requests to elaborate on the alleged discrepancy between Tu's remarks.

On Monday, Tu received a major demerit, effective immediately, which saw him demoted by one rank from his post as head of personnel at the Department of Health. The demerit was issued for, in the view of the Cabinets' Central Personnel Administration, "damaging the image of civil servants."

A second session, which began at 3pm concerned Twu's libel suit against Cheng, Lee and Ding. Chuang had summoned Twu, Cheng, Lee and Ding, as well as Lee's assistant Yeh Chih-chiang (葉志強) to testify.