The Democratic Progressive Party and former party spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) yesterday lost an appeal in a defamation lawsuit brought by former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), with the Taiwan High Court ordering them to pay Ma compensation totaling NT$1.2 million (US$39,643).
The sum was greater than that ordered in the first ruling in 2015, when Taipei District Court judges ordered Liang and the party to pay Ma NT$300,000 in compensation, but were not required to issue a public apology in newspapers as Ma had demanded.
In 2011, Liang, then spokesman of the party, said on a TV talk show that Ma had solicited illegal political donations totaling NT$300 million during a meeting with Chen Ying-chu (陳盈助), who allegedly operated underground gambling pools and had ties to businesses run by gangsters.
Photo: Courtesy of Hit FM
Liang at the time said he was citing information published in a report by the Chinese-language Next Magazine, as well as recordings made by the journalist who conducted interviews for the report, which Liang said he had obtained.
Ma filed the defamation suit seeking NT$2 million in compensation and demanding that a public apology be printed in local newspapers.
In yesterday’s ruling, the Taiwan High Court said that Liang had not verified the information by reasonable means, and that he had no evidence to corroborate his remarks, which resulted in a negative public perception of Ma and damage to his reputation.
“It is disappointing to hear this ruling. I do not understand what the judges would constitute as verifying information by reasonable means,” Liang said after the verdict. “My remarks had real basis... Different judges will give widely different rulings, so I regret this verdict.”
‘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
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
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
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
RSS