The Taipei District Court ruled in favor of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday in a slander suit against him.
The case was filed in late 2005 after Chen, speaking on a TV talk show, accused five retired Navy officers — without naming them — of accepting kickbacks to produce false performance data on Lafayette frigates to persuade the Navy to purchase frigates from France rather than South Korea in 1990. Chen also said the officers had helped inflate the price of the vessels.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator William Lai (賴清德) and then-legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) repeated the accusations at a separate press conference.
Vice Admiral Lei Hsueh-ming (雷學明), Rear Admiral Wang Chin-sheng (王琴生), Captain Kang Shih-chun (康世淳), Captain Chang Jui-fan (張瑞帆) and Commander Cheng Chih-po (程志波) then filed the slander suit against Chen, Hsu and Lai, seeking NT$2.01 billion (US$67 million) in compensation.
The court ruled that the statements by Chen, Lai and Hsu did not constitute slander because they harbored no ill will and the remarks were not offensive, Taipei District Court spokesman Huang Jiunn-ming (黃俊明) said.
The defendants said they had never named the officers and had only “speculated” that “five retired Navy officers” had accepted bribes.
Hsu and Lai also said they should enjoy immunity from the suit as lawmakers.
Lei said that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) decided to buy the Lafayette frigates and that he himself had no role in the purchase.
As the three defendants never backed their remarks with evidence, the statements constituted slander, Lei said.
He said that he and the other plaintiffs would appeal.
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