The Taipei District Court yesterday heard a lawsuit by an interior designer against the son of former National Police Admin-istration chief Ding Yuan-chin (丁原進).
The designer, Ko Wen-cheng (柯文正), sued Ding Chao-chi (丁肇基) accusing the latter of failing to pay more than NT$4 million in interior design and decoration fees for his work at the Dings' controversial Vision City (世界山莊) villa.
Ding did not appear in court nor was he represented by an attorney at the hearing.
The dispute came to light earlier this month and led to allegations that the former police force head is living a life of luxury well beyond his means.
Ding's attorney, Chiani Lee (李采霓), said the designer failed to accomplish the agreed-upon tasks or win the Dings' approval for the work that was completed.
"The work had many defects, and my client twice asked them to do it properly, but they failed to meet these demands," Lee said.
Despite the flaws in the work completed, she said, Ding has paid NT$3.24 million of the originally agreed-upon NT$4 million.
"But they changed the project without consulting us and inflated the price to NT$8 million," Lee said.
But Ko told a different story, saying every piece of the work was carried out according to the contract.
"I asked them to approve the work, but they did not do so and just moved in and changed the lock," Ko said.
Taipei County Councilor Chin Chieh-shou (金介壽) appeared outside the court to support Ko. He said many business people offered to provide free furniture to Ding Yuan-jinn when he was in office.
"But they withdrew their offers when Ding stepped down. And that's why the Dings have failed to pay the money," he said.
The Control Yuan last Tuesday started an investigation into Ding's financial affairs and the circumstances surrounding the purchase of his residences.
Ding Yuan-chin was also charged last week by Taipei City Councilors with owing NT$24 million in fines and taxes for gifts he says he used to purchase an upscale villa in the Wenshan District of Taipei City.
Ding is the former head of the National Police Administration and previous chief of the Taipei City Police Headquarters.
Ding claimed on Tuesday that, to buy a house in Vision City worth NT$38 million, he gathered NT$6 million from his only son and borrowed NT$20 million from one of his "good friends."
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US