Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus acting Secretary-General Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) yesterday urged prosecutors to probe a media allegation that 12 incumbent and former legislators and a religious figure received a large amount of money from Wang You-theng (王又曾), the fugitive founder of the Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團).
Hsieh urged prosecutors to complete the investigation as soon as possible to clarify the matter.
He said KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春), who was allegedly among the 12 legislators, would cooperate with investigation.
The caucus' press conference came after a report by the Chinese-language Apple Daily yesterday that said Wang had secretly paid a total of NT$5.6 billion (US$184 million) to the legislators between 1999 and 2006.
The newspaper claimed it had obtained a 30-page copy of Wang's remittance details, which it said prosecutors copied from Wang's personal notebook.
The report alleged that the money was paid to 13 people -- including Kuo, KMT legislators Lo Ming-tsai (
The money they individually received ranged from NT$268.5 million to NT$1.5 million, the report said, but it did not mention details of why they received the money.
Kuo yesterday dismissed the allegations.
"He [Wang] did not wire any money to my bank accounts, nor did I ever receive any money from him," Kuo said.
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
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon