Under the instruction of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), the Presidential Office yesterday stripped former deputy secretary-general to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) of two medals the president had conferred on him.
Chen Che-nan has been indicted for corruption related to the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal.
The Presidential Office said its decision to strip him of the medals was based on recent findings that Chen Che-nan had used Presidential Office staff to look after personal business. As a result, the Presidential Office stripped him of the Order of the Brilliant Star and the Order of Propitious Clouds.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
A statement released last night from the Presidential Office, said the president was "severely upset" over the misconduct.
Meanwhile, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislater insinuated that a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker was the source of a leaked casino photograph related to the KRTC scandal that caused two high-ranking officials to step down.
DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (
Lee said on Wednesday that a "pan-green heavyweight" had seen the gambling photograph before it was aired on a talk show on cable station TVBS.
Lee earlier yesterday morning said that a lawmaker from the ruling party with a business background had teamed up with gangsters to release a photograph of former deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) and former Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (陳敏賢) gambling at a casino on Cheju Island, South Korea.
Lee alleged that the photograph was first handed to gangsters, who then relayed it to the TV station.
The disclosure of the photo cost the two Chens their jobs.
Swearing on his "political reputation," Ker yesterday said that he had not seen the photograph until he read the newspaper the day after the photo was broadcast. He also dismissed a remark by DPP Legislator Tu Wen-ching (杜文卿), who reportedly said that Ker had seen the photograph, as "rubbish."
Meanwhile, independent legislator Chiu Yi (
Chiu alleged that the trip was aimed at persuading Wu and Kong to push the firm's public listing. A Gamania spokesman said Chiu's comments did not make sense as the firm was listed in 2001, while the trip took place in 2002.
‘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
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
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification