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)
NETWORK-MAPPING PROJECT: The database contains 170 detailed files of Taiwanese politicians and about 23 million records of household registration data in Taiwan China has developed a network-mapping project targeting political figures and parties in Taiwan to monitor public opinion during elections and to craft tailored influence campaigns aimed at dividing Taiwanese society, according to documents leaked by Chinese technology firm GoLaxy (中科天璣). The documents, collected by Taipei-based Doublethink Lab, showed a database was specifically created to gather detailed information on Taiwanese political figures, including their political affiliations, job histories, birthplaces, residences, education, religion and a brief biography about them. Several notable Taiwanese politicians are in the database, including President William Lai (賴清德), former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍),
RECOGNITION: Former Fijian prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry said that Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy serves as a stabilizing force in the Indo-Pacific region Taiwan can lead the unification of the Chinese people, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish president Lech Walesa said in Taipei yesterday, adding that as the world order is changing, peaceful discussion would find good solutions, and that the use of force and coercion would always fail. Walesa made the remarks during his keynote address at a luncheon of the Yushan Forum in Taipei, titled “Indo-Pacific Partnership Prospects: Taiwan’s Values, Technology and Resilience,” organized by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Walesa said that he had been at the forefront of a big peaceful revolution and “if
North Korea tested nuclear-capable rocket launchers, state media reported yesterday, a day after Seoul detected the launch of about 10 ballistic missiles. The test comes after South Korean and US forces launched their springtime military drills, due to run until Thursday. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday oversaw the testing of the multiple rocket launcher system (MRLS), the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The test involved 12 600mm-caliber ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies, it said. Kim said the drill gave Pyongyang’s enemies, within the 420km striking range, a sense of “uneasiness” and “a deep understanding
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
RSS