Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) should apologize within three days for making false accusations against President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), otherwise, he will face a slander suit, a Presidential Office spokesman said yesterday.
The Presidential Office issued the statement after the lawmaker earlier yesterday alleged that the president was also involved in Chen Che-nan's (陳哲男) embezzlement and bribery case.
Chen Che-nan, the former deputy secretary-general of the Presidential Office, was detained late on Friday night on charges of fraud and corruption.
Chen Che-nan told prosecutors that he had "accepted money" from convicted embezzler Liang Po-hsun (梁柏薰), the former chairman of the Hsinchiehchung Construction Co.
Prosecutors allege that Chen Che-nan accepted a total of NT$7.11 million (US$222,188) from Liang as Chen Che-nan had failed to explain where the money had come from.
Lee Chuan-chiao held a press conference at the legislature yesterday morning claiming that Liang told him in person how he had prepared NT$1 million in cash and then asked Chen Che-nan to forward the money to the president as a political donation.
Lee's allegations were supported by Liang's special aide Hsieh Wen-chang (謝文章), who was also present at the press conference.
The KMT lawmaker, who is also seeking the party's nomination to run as the KMT candidate in Kaohsiung's year-end mayoral election, alleged that Liang made the "donation" in the hope that he would not be indicted.
First lady Wu had also accepted Sogo Department Store gift coupons as a token of appreciation and had spent several thousand dollars, Lee Chuan-chiao added.
"I would urge the president to remind himself of what happened to Chen Che-nan," the lawmaker said. "I think he is responsible for this anyway, since Chen Che-nan used to be his favorite, and now he is involved in this scandal."
David Lee (李南陽), director of the Presidential Office's Public Affairs Department, yesterday said Lee Chuan-chiao should come up with evidence to support his allegations.
"Otherwise, his accusations are just speculation and his irresponsible actions have seriously smeared the reputation of the head of state," Lee said, adding that the lawmaker's unfounded accusations should be sternly condemned.
David Lee said the president had never accepted any political contributions from Liang and that the Presidential Office had no knowledge about whether Chen Che-nan had ever accepted any bribes from Liang.
David Lee added that Wu had never spent such a sum of money at that department store. Since every coupon has a serial number, he said, it would be easy to check whether the lawmaker's accusation was true.
Moreover, the wheelchair-bound first lady had always been accompanied by a large crowd of security officers and nurses on each of her shopping outings, he added.
"There are no secrets about the first lady's shopping activities," he added.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged the prosecutors to continue in their efforts to reveal the truth and resist political pressure.
"Such corruption cases need to be investigated without any gray areas, and [the prosecutors] have to fight against political pressure. Otherwise the whole country will suffer," Ma said, adding that he respected any decision made by the prosecutors and courts, but expected them to spare no effort.
Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods