Taiwan Quick Take: Ex-KMT official sentenced

Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) was sentenced to three months in jail yesterday after the Taichung District Court found her guilty of running a newspaper ad defaming a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate during last year's elections. The DPP's candidate for Taichung mayor, Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), sued KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), KMT Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏), Cheng and her assistant Chang Sze-kang (張斯綱) for running the ad in a bid to scuttle his campaign. The ad claimed that Lin and Lo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), the DPP's candidate for Taipei County commissioner, were behind a group suspected of embezzling assets. The court found that Ma, Chan and Chang had not participated in the plan to run the ad, but decided that Cheng's role merited punishment. The court said Cheng had damaged Lin's reputation, a key reference for voters in an election, without evidence to back up her claims.