Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will face questioning by the Control Yuan over a scandal involving former city government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), who is suspected of accepting an advertiser's offer to run his legislative campaign advertisements on a city-funded electronic billboard.
Wu, who was nominated by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to run for a legislative seat in December, was accused by several Democratic Progressive Party city councilors last month of tacitly agreeing to allow an advertising agency to run campaign ads for him on a publicly funded electronic billboard located on the intersection of Zhongxiao East Road and Jilong Road.
The city's Department of Information paid NT$930,000 per year since 2001 to Ho-Feng Enterprises (
After Wu released the news that he would contend for a legislative seat, the electronic billboard began showing Wu's campaign ads with a Department of Information title.
At that time, Wu was still serving as the city government spokesman and the director of the information department.
The Anti-Corruption Committee of the Control Yuan assigned investigative members Lee Shen-yi (
This will be the first case that the Control Yuan has investigated under the Political Donations Law (
The law bans candidates from accepting any donations before they open a special account, which they must use for all political donations.
Control Yuan members will also investigate Ma to find out whether he failed to fulfill his responsibility of supervision, since the mayor gave Wu only a verbal warning at the time that the scandal broke.
Ma said yesterday that he will try to coordinate with the investigators, and said he will answer each question "according to the truth."
Ma added that he always took a respectful attitude towards investigations by the Control Yuan.
Wu said yesterday that he welcomed the investigation. because it was the best way for him to prove his innocence, saying that the advertising agency ran the campaign ads for him without notifying him and that he had nothing to do with corruption.
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean outfit Hyukoh collectively received the most nominations at this year’s Golden Melody Awards, earning a total of seven nods from the jury on Wednesday. The bands collaborated on their 2024 album AAA, which received nominations for best band, best album producer, best album design and best vocal album recording. “Young Man,” a single from the album, earned nominations for song of the year and best music video, while another track, “Antenna,” also received a best music video nomination. Late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong (方大同) was named the jury award winner for his 2024 album
Hong Kong singer Eason Chan’s (陳奕迅) concerts in Kaohsiung this weekend have been postponed after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 this morning, the organizer said today. Chan’s “FEAR and DREAMS” concert which was scheduled to be held in the coming three days at the Kaohsiung Arena would be rescheduled to May 29, 30 and 31, while the three shows scheduled over the next weekend, from May 23 to 25, would be held as usual, Universal Music said in a statement. Ticket holders can apply for a full refund or attend the postponed concerts with the same seating, the organizer said. Refund arrangements would
RSS