Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) is planning a defamation lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), DPP spokesperson Kang Yu-cheng (康裕成) said yesterday in response to Chiu’s claim that Su illegally constructed a farmhouse in his native Pingtung County.
Chiu said that although vice presidential candidate Su was fined NT$60,000 (US$1,900) for violating the Regulations Governing Agricultural Dwelling Houses (農業用地興建農舍辦法), which stipulate that the percentage of a plot of agricultural land used for houses should not exceed 10 percent, Su still has not corrected the violation.
Chiu said that the lavish farmhouse was built when Su was the commissioner of the county and that Su has been renting the agricultural land using his father’s name despite his father having passed away 14 years ago, an act that constitutes document forgery.
Su has denied the allegations.
“The NT$60,000 fine was handed down in 2007 and the farmhouse has since been rebuilt to meet the regulations, which means Chiu’s allegation was wrong,” Kang said yesterday, adding that Su’s lawyers would file a lawsuit once related information and documents were ready.
Concerned that the KMT would use lawsuits to complicate the DPP’s campaign in the run-up to January’s presidential election, Kang said the party had set up an ad hoc task force to tackle recent legal cases involving DPP members and possible cases in the future.
Former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) has been tapped by DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) as head of the task force, Kang said.
Tsai, who is also the party’s presidential candidate, said she is concerned with what she describes as “politicization of the judiciary,” a fear that the KMT might use legal cases as “campaign tools” for the combined presidential and legislative elections.
On Tuesday, three DPP legislative candidates — Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) and Liao Pen-yen (廖本煙) — were among a group of eight former lawmakers across party lines sentenced by the Taiwan High Court to jail terms ranging from seven years and two months to eight years on charges of bribery stemming from 2003.
In related news, Kang yesterday said the party would pay the fines imposed by the Control Yuan for violating the Political Donation Act (政治獻金法) for accepting money from a company that suffered a financial loss in the previous fiscal year.
The party relies heavily on political donations and it had failed to pick up on the error, Kang said.
The DPP was fined NT$200,000 for accepting NT$1 million from an underperforming investment company run by Tsai Ing-wen’s family, now known as Futai Investment Co.
The money donated by the company to the DPP is to be confiscated by the Control Yuan and the company has been fined NT$1 million.
The investment company had suffered a loss the fiscal year before it made the political donation in March 2009, the Control Yuan said.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it