The acting head of the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday that while he was pleased to hear the apology of those who had wrongfully accused him of sexual harassment, he was not considering withdrawing the libel suit filed against his accusers on Thursday.
"Since the legal process is already underway, the punishment is not something to bargain over at this moment," Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), the acting secretary general of the DOH said yesterday at a press conference at the DOH.
Accompanied by his lawyer, Twu made the remark at a press conference held shortly after declining to receive Cheng Ko-jung (鄭可榮) and PFP lawmaker Diane Lee (李慶安) who had gone to the DOH to try to apologize to Twu in person.
In an earlier news conference called by Cheng and Lee yesterday morning, Cheng apologized for wrongfully accusing Twu, saying that he had realized on Friday afternoon -- after seeing the face of Tu Hau-lin (屠豪麟), head of personnel at the DOH, on television -- that it was the latter, not Twu, who had harassed him.
Twu said that if Cheng had "admitted to his mistake earlier," he would have forgiven him.
"I gave Cheng many opportunities in the past few days to admit his mistake,"he said.
"I even followed him to the KTV parlor so that he would have a chance to confirm whether I was the person he believed had harassed him on the night of Aug. 6."
"I can only say that, although I am pleased to hear the apology, the harm has already been done."
Twu filed a libel suit against his accusers on Thursday, demanding NT$50 million in compensation.
Despite Twu's remarks, his lawyer Tsai Mao-sung (
"They should give a thorough and honest account to the public -- of the background to the allegations, all influencing factors and other aspects of the allegations that remain unclear," said Tsai.
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