Acting director-general of the Department of Health Twu Shiing-jer (
Twu was wrongly accused in early October of sexual harassment and is seeking compensation.
Twu's lawyer, Tsai Mao-sung (蔡茂松), arrived at the Taipei Prosecutors' Office yesterday afternoon and spoke on Twu's behalf.
Tsai said that Twu wanted PFP Legislator Yang Fu-mei (
Tsai has already named Cheng Ko-jung (
According to Tsai, after the case was first made public on Oct. 1, Yang held a press conference on Oct. 3 at the Legislative Yuan and said that a cleaning lady claimed to have witnessed Twu having sex with one of his female aides in his office. Twu was the director-general of the Center for Disease Control at the time of the alleged incident.
Evidence lacking
However, Yang failed to provide any evidence to support her accusations and speculation has been rife that the allegation was motivated by jealousy.
When the media pressed her on the allegations, Yang backpedalled and said the charges were "based on hearsay."
According to Tsai, Hsu is a businessman who sells sports gear. But when Hsu was interviewed by Taiwan Television Enterprise on Oct. 3, he claimed he was a doctor from National Taiwan University Hospital and was at the KTV parlor on Aug. 6 this year, when the alleged sexual harassment occurred.
During the interview, he said that Twu was at the scene but he didn't see Twu doing anything inappropriate.
Hsu was later interviewed by Taipei Chief Prosecutor Chuang Cheng (
"Both Yang's and Hsu's remarks have seriously damaged Twu's reputation. However, none of them apologized and admitted they were wrong, so Twu decided to sue them," Tsai said.
Twu's civil claim seeks a total of NT$50 million from Cheng, Lee and Ding.
NT$1 penalty
However, Twu said he understands that Chen cannot afford his share of this sum -- approximately NT$17 million. Since Cheng has apologized to him publicly on more than one occasion, Twu said on Oct. 9 that Cheng has to pay only NT$1.
Lee and Ding would be forced to share the rest of the sum, NT$49,999,999.
Twu is seeking additional damages from the new defendants.
"The total amount of the civil claim will definitely be increased since we have two more defendants. However, Twu hasn't yet decided how much the difference will be," Tsai said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS