Former deputy minister of national defense Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) yesterday filed a defamation suit against Pei Wei (裴偉), editor-in-chief of the Chinese-language Next Magazine and two others people after the magazine accused Tsai of selling military promotions.
The magazine ran a story accusing Tsai of taking bribes in exchange for promoting 10 lieutenant generals and major generals last year.
key player
The magazine singled him out as the key player in a recent string of corruption allegations involving the ministry.
Prosecutors have listed Tsai and several senior military officials accused of buying their positions as suspects in the case.
Tsai said he had been wrongly accused and denied selling military positions.
FALSE
“The Next Magazine report is completely false,” he said. “When I was in office, I had never heard of any rumors of selling or buying positions. I am in favor of cracking down on or investigating alleged corruption.”
He said all the officers he promoted had been approved by the personnel department and that all personnel changes had been agreed upon by the former or current president.
Prosecutors earlier this month indicted former lieutenant general Yuan Hsiao-lung (袁肖龍) and 11 businessmen on charges of bribery and blackmail in a scandal in which several high-ranking officers were accused of securing promotions by offering bribes.SCANDAL
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) have both denied any involvement in the alleged cash-for-promotions scandal.
Next Magazine is well-known for its aggressive reporters and bold reporting style, which has embroiled it in a number of controversies.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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