The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) filed a lawsuit against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday, accusing the two of corruption for favoring Performance Workshop Theatre founder Stan Lai (賴聲川) in organizing the ROC Centenary celebration events.
DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) filed the lawsuit at the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office in the afternoon, telling reporters that Ma and Wu had leaked secrets and favored Lai with public funds in their behind-the-scenes handling of a series of events organized by the ROC Centenary Foundation.
Of the 20 board members at the foundation, which operates a NT$3.2 billion (US$105.6 million) fund, eight currently hold positions in government, with Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) acting as honorary chairman and Presidential Office Secretary-General Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) as chairman.
The lawsuit and the controversy arising in recent weeks surrounded the Dreamers (夢想家) musical, which was produced by Lai and cost NT$215 million to stage for two nights.
The winning bid for the musical was not decided until December last year, Chuang said.
“However, former Council for Cultural Affairs minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) had told top Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, among them Ma and Wu, [that Lai would win the bid] during a meeting of the KMT’s Central Standing Committee on Oct. 13 last year,” Chuang said.
That showed Ma and Wu, who had previously said they did not know anything about the musical, had lied to the public, they said.
TV commentator Sisy Chen (陳文茜) said on a political talk show on Monday that Sheng, who stepped down on Friday, was only a “scapegoat” in the controversy because Ma, Wu and Siew made the final call about the musical, including the designation of Lai as the producer and Greater Taichung as the location of the stage performance.
Chuang said he hoped the court would subpoena Chen as a witness to disclose the details of her knowledge about the case.
ROC Centenary Foundation board members
(Current position in parentheses)
Honorary chairman:
Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) (Vice President)
Chairman:
Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) (Secretary-General, Presidential Office)
Vice chairpersons:
- Barry Lam (林百里) (Founder and chairman of Quanta Computer)
- Ovid Tzeng (曾志朗) (Council for Cultural Affairs minister)
- Tsai Shih-ping (蔡詩萍) (Writer, commentator, spokesperson for Ma Ying-jeou’s 2008 presidential campaign)
Directors:
- Wu Se-hwa (吳思華) (President, National Chengchi University)
- Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) (Chairman and chief executive, Chunghwa Telecom)
- Wei Duan (韋伯韜) (Chairman, Hong Tai Life Insurance, and former chairman of Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp)
- Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) (Chairman, Far Eastern Group)
- Kao Lang (高朗) (Deputy Secretary-General, Presidential Office)
- Emile Sheng (盛治仁) (Former minister of Council for Cultural Affairs)
- Nelson Chang (張安平) (Chairman, Chia Hsin Cement Corp)
- Chen Chih-yuan (陳致遠) (Chairman, Eyon Holding Group)
- Huang Pi-tuan (黃碧端) (Artistic director, National Chiang Kai-shek Cultural Center)
- Yang Du (楊渡) (Secretary-General, General Association of Chinese Culture; former director of the KMT’s Culture and Communication Committee)
- Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖) (Chairman, Cathay Financial Holdings)
- Daniel M. Tsai (蔡明忠) (Chairman, Fubon Financial Holdings)
- Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) (Deputy campaign manager, Ma’s re-election campaign office)
- David J.C. Chung (鍾榮吉) (Chairman, Taiwan Fertilizer Co)
- Yen Kai-tai (嚴凱泰) (Chief executive, Yulon Group)
- Stanley Yen (嚴長壽) (Chairman, The Landis Taipei Hotel)
Right-wing political scientist Laura Fernandez on Sunday won Costa Rica’s presidential election by a landslide, after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade. Fernandez’s nearest rival, economist Alvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40 percent needed to avoid a runoff. With 94 percent of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves had captured 48.3 percent of the vote compared with Ramos’ 33.4 percent, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal said. As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernandez’s Sovereign People’s Party
MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Draftees would be expected to fight alongside professional soldiers, likely requiring the transformation of some training brigades into combat units The armed forces are to start incorporating new conscripts into combined arms brigades this year to enhance combat readiness, the Executive Yuan’s latest policy report said. The new policy would affect Taiwanese men entering the military for their compulsory service, which was extended to one year under reforms by then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2022. The conscripts would be trained to operate machine guns, uncrewed aerial vehicles, anti-tank guided missile launchers and Stinger air defense systems, the report said, adding that the basic training would be lengthened to eight weeks. After basic training, conscripts would be sorted into infantry battalions that would take
GROWING AMBITIONS: The scale and tempo of the operations show that the Strait has become the core theater for China to expand its security interests, the report said Chinese military aircraft incursions around Taiwan have surged nearly 15-fold over the past five years, according to a report released yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of China Affairs. Sorties in the Taiwan Strait were previously irregular, totaling 380 in 2020, but have since evolved into routine operations, the report showed. “This demonstrates that the Taiwan Strait has become both the starting point and testing ground for Beijing’s expansionist ambitions,” it said. Driven by military expansionism, China is systematically pursuing actions aimed at altering the regional “status quo,” the department said, adding that Taiwan represents the most critical link in China’s
‘REALLY PROUD’: Nvidia would not be possible without Taiwan, Huang said, adding that TSMC would be increasing its capacity by 100 percent Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday praised and lightly cajoled his major Taiwanese suppliers to produce more to help power strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI), capping a visit to the country of his birth, where he has been mobbed by adoring fans at every step. Speaking at an impromptu press conference in the rain outside a Taipei restaurant, where he had hosted suppliers for a “trillion-dollar dinner,” named after the market capitalization of those firms attending, Huang said this would be another good year for business. “TSMC needs to work very hard this year because I need a lot
RSS