Central Motion Picture Corp (CMPC, 中影) chairman Gou Tai-chiang (郭台強) yesterday denied involvement in an alleged plot a decade ago to kill former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and said he would sue his accusers, as well as Sanlih Entertainment Television (SET-TV, 三立電視).
Gou, who is also chairman of Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴), was on Thursday accused by former businessman Weng Ping-yao (翁炳堯) and attorney Chou Wu-jung (周武榮) of colluding with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2007 to hire Weng to kill Tsai amid a power struggle over KMT assets.
Weng and Chou repeated the accusations on a SET-TV political talk show, naming Gou’s wife, Lor Yu-chen (羅玉珍), former CMPC vice president Chuang Wan-chun (莊婉均) and former Tainan County Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the KMT as accomplices.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Gou told a news conference yesterday that he had never met Weng and denied having anything to do with a July 2007 shooting incident at Tsai’s office in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港).
Nobody was injured in the shooting.
“SET-TV allowed Weng and Chou to appear on its programs to make exaggerated claims,” Gou said.
“They and other guests made unsubstantiated allegations and told fabricated stories. These have resulted in severe damage to my reputation,” he said.
“Therefore I will file a lawsuit against Weng and his lawyer Chou over the false accusation,” Gou added.
“I will also sue SET-TV for aggravated defamation,” he said.
“I did not benefit in the CMPC case, but was embroiled in later developments in which I am actually the one who was negatively affected,” Gou said.
Weng on Thursday said that he was promised NT$320 million (US$10.54 million at the current exchange rate) to kill Tsai, as it was 10 percent of CMPC’s assessed value of NT$3.2 billion.
He said he was only a hired gun and the deal was brokered by Lee.
Weng spoke to reporters before reporting to prosecutors and asking that a probe into the shooting be reopened.
He was questioned by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Weng and Chou said that the KMT at the time of the shooting was electing members to its Central Standing Committee and other executive positions.
There was a power struggle over party assets, with the sale of CMPC and other KMT-controlled media companies at the center of a clash between Ma, who was president and KMT chairman at the time, and Tsai, Weng said.
“Tsai refused to resign as CMPC chairman, so Ma struck a deal with Gou, Lor and Chuang for those three to take control of CMPC,” Weng said, adding that: “I was instructed to kill Tsai.”
“It was reasoned that if Tsai was killed, Gou would become CMPC chairman,” he said.
Weng said he had done the job, despite only shooting two bullets at Tsai’s office as a warning.
Tsai understood the message and resigned as CMPC chairman the next day, Weng said.
“The KMT officials reneged on their promise,” Weng said. “I was cheated out of the money, later being told I would only get NT$20 million.”
“I never even got that amount,” he said. “I only received NT$200,000.”
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
AFTERMATH: The Taipei City Government said it received 39 minor incident reports including gas leaks, water leaks and outages, and a damaged traffic signal A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Taiwan’s northeastern coast late on Saturday, producing only two major aftershocks as of yesterday noon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The limited aftershocks contrast with last year’s major earthquake in Hualien County, as Saturday’s earthquake occurred at a greater depth in a subduction zone. Saturday’s earthquake struck at 11:05pm, with its hypocenter about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km. Shaking was felt in 17 administrative regions north of Tainan and in eastern Taiwan, reaching intensity level 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier seismic scale, the CWA said. In Hualien, the
RSS