A former lawyer for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday testified that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) had attended at party at the Playboy Mansion when he was studying in the US.
Earlier this year, radio show host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) alleged that Lien lived a lavish lifestyle during his college years at Columbia University in New York, including attending at party at the Playboy Mansion.
Lien filed a slander suit against Chou in the Taipei District Court, asking for NT$5 million (US$166,000) in compensation and a public apology.
Song Yao-ming (宋耀明) was summoned to testify in court when Chou cited him as her source of information.
Song told the court that the KMT should not have encouraged Lien to enter politics.
“Between 1993 and 1994 Lien invited me to his apartment in the Trump Tower in New York, and he told me he went to the Playboy Mansion in California,” Song said.
“A few years ago I had a conversation with a senior journalist surnamed Tsai (蔡) and I told him that Lien and I were schoolmates at Columbia University’s law school between 1993 and 1994. I lived in an international house in Upper Manhattan, which cost about US$1,000 a month. I was shocked when I learned that Lien, who had just graduated from Fu Jen Catholic University, has a father who is a government official, but he could afford an apartment in Trump Tower,” Song said.
Song said Sean Lien, one of former vice president Lien Chan’s (連戰) sons, was absent from class for days. When Song later ran into him and asked him where he had been, Sean Lien told him he had been to the Playboy Mansion in California.
The court asked whether both sides would consider settling the case out of court. Sean Lien’s lawyer said he would discuss it with his client.
Song had represented Ma when he was charged with misusing his special mayoral allowance.
Sean Lien spokesman Chien Chen-yu (錢震宇) said the younger Lien is not familiar with Song and that he never attended a party at the Playboy Mansion.
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
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