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
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS