Taipei District prosecutors yesterday charged former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) ex-housekeeper Lo Shih Li-yun (羅施麗雲) with lying to prosecutors about the first family’s alleged embezzlement of public funds.
Lo worked for Chen and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) for more than a decade.
Lo mainly worked as a caregiver for the former first lady. She was also involved in the family’s expenses because she was often sent out to buy food or supplies.
Prosecutors allege she and her husband Luo Sheng-shun (羅勝順) purposely gave false testimony and destroyed evidence to protect the former president and his wife from being convicted of embezzlement.
Chen and Wu have been accused of illegally receiving reimbursements for personal expenses from the presidential “state affairs fund” using inappropriate receipts. Wu allegedly told Lo to tell prosecutors that the receipts were for legitimate expenses.
Prosecutors also said Lo and her husband had previously testified that Chen used part of the money from the “state affairs fund” to reward her and her husband for their work for the family.
Last year Chen and Wu were convicted by the district court of a number of charges, including embezzlement of the “state affairs fund.” Their cases are under appeal.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
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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
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