Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said yesterday he would not apologize to former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan's (連戰) daughter, Lien Hui-hsin (連惠心), despite a court decision ordering him to do so.
"I was questioning her father, not her," Tuan told a press conference yesterday. "I did not do anything wrong, so I do not understand why I should apologize."
TAX EVASION
The dispute stemmed from the slander lawsuit Lien Hui-hsin filed against Tuan in 2004 when Lien Chan was running for the presidency as the KMT candidate.
At the time, Tuan, in his capacity as DPP legislator, accused Lien Chan of evading taxes.
Tuan, referring to official documents containing Lien Hui-hsin's name, said he suspected that her bank account was being used as one of Lien Chan's dummy accounts for money laundering.
TRANSFER
Tuan said the documents showed that the Taipei City Tax Bureau suspected Lien Hui-hsin of tax fraud on Aug. 15, 1991.
He said that on July 30 Lien Hui-hsin relocated her household registration to Tamsui (淡水), Taipei County, meaning that responsibility for the case had to be shifted from the Taipei City Tax Bureau to the one in Taipei County.
OLD FRIEND
Tuan said that the then head of the Taiwan County Tax Department, Lin Suei-sheng (林燧生), was an old friend of the Liens and that Lien Hui-hsin's case was closed without any explanation.
After the case was closed, Lin was promoted to deputy treasurer of the Taiwan Province Government when Lien Chan was governor, Tuan said.
In addition to the slander suit, Lien Hui-hsin filed a compensation request from Tuan.
The court ruled that Tuan was innocent of slander, but a final verdict said that Tuan had to carry out Lien Hui-hsin's request that he print an apology in a major Chinese-language newspaper.
"This final verdict is neither convincing nor logical," Tuan said.
"It does not make sense for judges to believe that I did not slander her only to request that I apologize to her," he said.
Tuan said he was considering filing a constitutional interpretation request on the case.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
Speeding and badly maintained roads were the main causes of a school bus accident on a rainy day in Taipei last year that severely injured two people and left 22 with minor injuries, the Taiwan Transportation and Safety Board said. On March 11 last year, a Kang Chiao International School bus overturned inside the Wenshan Tunnel (文山隧道) on the northbound lane of the Xinyi Expressway. The tour bus, owned by Long Lai Co, exceeded the speed limit after entering the tunnel, the board’s investigation found. Sensing that the rear of the vehicle was swaying, the driver attempted to use the service and exhaust
Central and southern Taiwan are to see increasingly heavy rainfall from last night through Friday due to the effects of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said Tropical Storm Co-May had weakened into a low-pressure system on Saturday, but that it strengthened again into a tropical depression (TD 11) near the seas around Japan's Ryukyu Islands due to favorable environmental conditions. The tropical depression is expected to persist for two to three days, moving west-northwest by this afternoon and reaching China's Zhejiang through the East China Sea tomorrow,
RSS