An opposition legislator yesterday outlined a complex conspiracy involving the first lady, a fashion designer and the Grand Hotel, saying the Australian government would investigate the matter and prove fraudulent expenses had been recorded by the Presidential Office.
"This might become a diplomatic incident between the two countries," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (
Chiu Yi claims that first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) used receipts she obtained issued by the Grand Hotel to Ligi Lee (李慧芬) -- an Australia-based fashion designer -- to mask her embezzlement of funds from the Presidential Office's special expenditure budget.
Chiu Yi said Ligi Lee had said the receipts totalled NT$3.36 million (US$102,220), and were given to Wu because Ligi Lee's cousin, Lee Bi-chun (
In a brief statement, the Presidential Office denied the accusation, saying only that the receipts were submitted by "a person" who acted as a "go-between" for the nation's de facto diplomatic mission in Australia, who received the receipts from Lee Bi-chun to seek reimbursement from the office.
The statement said that the "go-between" had been commissioned as part of an operation it called the "South Route Project," but it provided no details as to what the project was.
Chiu Yi said he doubted the authenticity of such a project, saying that it was merely a fiction made up by Tseng Tien-tsu (
Because of the Presidential Office's claims, Chiu Yi said, the Australian government was now set to investigate whether officials had accepted money from the office.
Chiu Yi said that Ross Maddock, secretary-general of the Australia-Taiwan Business Council, initially planned to come to Taiwan with Ligi Lee's ex-husband Chiu Ta-wei (
Meanwhile, Chiu Ta-wei returned to Taipei from Australia yesterday.
When confronted by reporters at CKS International Airport yesterday afternoon, Chiu Ta-wei said that he didn't know anything about what Chiu Yi and Ligi Lee had said.
"This is my country. I came back because I had to," he said when reporters asked him why he had returned.
Chiu Yi told the press on Saturday that Chiu Da-wei was returning at Tseng's request.
"Tseng asked Chiu Ta-wei to come back to Taiwan to explain to the media that he had been under orders to carry out the so-called `South Route Project.' And he [Chiu Ta-wei] will take the responsibility on himself for [Lee Bi-chun's] receipt matter," Chiu Yi said.
Chiu Yi quoted Ligi Lee as saying that she knew about her ex-husband's trip because a travel agency had mistakenly faxed his itinerary to her.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) said that the ministry didn't have any information about an investigation by Australia into the "South Route Project," saying he hadn't had a chance to check with the Canberra government as of last night.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,
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